


My Destiny

by miinamiwa



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bottom Ron Weasley, F/F, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, M/M, Oblivious Harry Potter, Pining Draco Malfoy, Top Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:41:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 45,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22890424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miinamiwa/pseuds/miinamiwa
Summary: Every Weasley has a destined one; a person that they have to love and cherish for the rest of their lives... too bad that Ron's destined one is his best friend.***********I started writing this fic in 2017. 3 years later and I'm still shit at summaries and titles. Give it a shot!
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Ron Weasley, Harry Potter/Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 6
Kudos: 95





	My Destiny

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I've ever written, and the second one I've finished. I started writing this one in 2017 and after a long time of struggle with my personal life and inspiration, it's finally finished. 
> 
> WARNING!!!
> 
> This fic contains mentions of rape and non/con. It's nothing explicit, but if this triggers something in you, I suggest that you skip from where it says -He panicked.-, and you are free to continue where the division starts.
> 
> Enjoy your reading!

_It sucks, isn't it? Being in love with your best friend... With your male best friend. I've been in love with Harry practically ever since I met him, but, of course, I didn't realize it until I was in fourth year... Hell, I didn't even realize I was gay until Neville caught me staring at Dean in the showers of the dorms at the end of third year... But well, back to the main topic..._

_When I saw Harry confront the Horntail, and then, being chased by it, I had some kind of epiphany. I could not live my life without Harry in it. Like, literally... In that precise moment, when he was nearly turned to a hot mass of burnt human flesh, I knew he was the one that I was bound to love... Forever._

_You see... There's this little thing with us Weasleys that is kind of weird... And I hated it when I knew I loved Harry._

_The thing is, that within the Weasley brood, we are meant to love a person, and one alone, for the rest of our lives. It works almost like that soul-mate shit Lavender always talks about, but the little, almost insignificant detail, is that not always those who are meant to be our destined ones love us back..._

_That love, for us Weasleys means stability, mental sanity, life itself... Literally, we can go mad, or even die, or both, if we are rejected by our destined ones... That's why being in love with my best male friend, Harry Potter, sucks._

Everything went downhill in Ronald Weasley's life when he decided to go with Harry and Hermione to that goddamned Horrorcrux hunt. No. Wait. It all went to hell when Ginny and Harry started dating.

Ron had decided he was going to tell Harry about his feelings right when he came for the summer holidays before their sixth year, but then decided against it after Sirius' death. Harry was completely smashed by his godfather's demise, that he was reduced to little more than a walking dead. When he arrived to The Burrow, he barely talked with anyone. He holed himself in Ron's room and the first two weeks had refused to talk to anyone. Even Mrs. Weasley couldn't make him come out.

The only times when he ate anything at all were when Ginny brought his food up to the room he shared with his best friend, and one time after Hermione had arrived, Ginny had asked her to take Ron out and she had stayed with Harry in the attic.

Only heaven knows what Ginny had told to Harry, but whatever it was, snapped Harry out of that state of half death he had sunk in and he began to regain that brightness in his eyes that Ron loved so much.

For that, he was forever thankful to his young sister, but that also made him jealous. He, the one who was supposed to love Harry the most, could do nothing to bring him back to the normalcy of life. Well, as normal as Harry Potter's life could be.

Then, back at Hogwarts, he had decided to give him some more time to recover. He was planning on telling him, for real this time, during Christmas break, but oh, surprise... One day before leaving for their respective homes, Hermione had told him, with a suspicious tear in her eye, that she had caught Harry and Ginny kissing near the entrance of the Great Hall.

He didn't believe her until one day, back in The Burrow, he had caught them himself kissing in the step of the stairs leading to the twins' room.

He had gone back to the kitchen and left the cups of tea he had been carrying on the table, walked to the back door as if something outside had caught his attention and then, when he was finally down the stairs to the back yard, had run to the orchard as fast as his long legs could go. The snow did nothing to stop him from running away. Only when Hermione had noticed he was missing and had gone to find him herself, did he come back inside.

The rest of the year he had tried to catch Harry's eye, but Ginny seemed to get all his attention, and somehow, for some reason, Hermione appeared to be saddened by it too.

After Dumbledore's death, the three of them had decided not to come back to Hogwarts to hunt down the Horrorcruxes left. Harry and Hermione would go home for some time and then go back to Ron's a week before Bill's wedding.

When they were on the run, Ronald couldn't bring himself to tell Harry any of it, in part because he had ended his relationship with Ginny not so long ago and also because they had so much in their minds that letting the cat out of the box would only bring more trouble.

It was only when everything had ended, that Ronald decided to confess his secret to his best friend. Voldemort had been dead for four months already, Hogwarts had been rebuilt and Death Eaters had been either killed or captured. The Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeur, had offered the Golden Trio any job they desired within the ministry, and although the offer was tempting, Harry and Ron could join the Auror program together and Hermione could join the Department of Magical Creatures, they decided to go back to Hogwarts to finish their education.

Back in the Griffindor Common Room, Ron tried to catch any signs in case Harry and Ginny had gotten together again, but they just seemed to be only good friends, so, that only left Hermione to talk to first... He needed to find out if his suspicions about the girl liking Harry were true.

"Hey Mione, can I talk to you for a minute?" said Ron, glancing shyly at the others scattered in front of her.

"Sure. I'll be right back." Harry, Ginny and Neville nodded and then she left with Ron through the portrait hole.

"You reckon he's finally got the guts to ask her out?" asked Ginny. Mild jealousy tainting her voice.

"Hope he does. They've been dancing around each other for Merlin knows how long..." said Harry, a bit amused.

"Nah... I don't think they would talk about something like that." Neville interjected. The other two just looked at him as if spending time with Luna had driven him up the hill. He ignored the other two and went back to the dorms.

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"So, what is it that you wanted to talk about? You look a bit nervous..."

"Well, I don't think there is a subtle way to ask this so... Do you like Harry?" Ron blurted out without looking her in the eye. Hermione only blinked at him owlishly and then started to giggle. Ron looked up at her a bit confused.

"Honestly Ronald. Is that why you've been distant with me? Because you think I like Harry?"

"Well, in sixth year you seemed miserable every time you looked at Harry and Ginny together..."

Hermione's smile turned a bit melancholic at that. She sighed. "Yes. I looked sad because I was sad. You see... Well, I guess there isn't a subtle way to say this either so... I like girls, Ron. I'm gay. And the reason why I seemed to be sad when I saw them together is because..."

"You like Ginny!" He said. Hermione only nodded.

"More specifically, I love her... But I think there's nothing to do there, right? I mean... She's with Harry. There's no way in hell that I'll get her..." The quiver in her voice and her watery eyes snapped Ron out of his stupor. He stepped closer to her and hugged her tight. Then, as if debating with himself, he decided to tell her the truth.

"Well, I guess we're in the same boat... I mean..."

"Harry?"

"Yeah." a sad smile appeared on his lips. "I'm going to tell you something, but you have to promise me that you won't repeat anything I tell you, ok?"

"You know you can trust me."

"Ok, so... Look, there is this thing... I don't know if it is a curse or what, but... All the members of the Weasley family are destined to love a person and one alone for the rest of our lives... Can you remember all that soul-mate shit Lavender and Parvati always talk about?" Hermione nodded. He could already hear the cogs in her head working. "Well, it's something like that... But it's a bit more complicated. Soul-mates are bound to love each other; us Weasleys, once we find the one we are meant to love, there's no going back. We'll be tied to them no matter what til the day we die, but they can fall in love with us or reject us at all... Usually, when the first one happens, the curse grants the couple, disregarding their gender, fertility... One clear example is my parents..." his cheeks gained a rosy color. "But when they reject us, it can affect us so deeply... There have been cases when a rejected one can't handle the rejection at all that they ended up mad, locked up in St. Mungo's or they take their own lives... Either way they end up dead..."

The gloomy mood that had found it's way reflected in Ron's face made her realize how bad things were. "Oh my God... Ron, so Harry is... Your destined one..."

She didn't mean it as a question but he nodded all the same.

"Well, it's clear that you haven't told him, otherwise he wouldn't have been with Ginny... But what if he is Ginny's too?"

"I don't know... I mean, I don't think it's possible. There has never been a case in which two Weasleys are bound to love the same person..." Ron stopped talking as a muffled thump and a yelp came from outside the unused classroom they were in.

Both went to see what had happened. Hermione casted a revealing charm but it showed no one. The only movement in the hall was the one made by their dancing shadows reflected on the walls.

"It's almost curfew, we should get back to the dorms anyways."

"Oh my God Mione... What if someone heard?"

"We don't know who it was, so there's no use in worrying. The only thing we can do now is keep quiet about it and only talk in the common room. Listen, next week, McGonagall is going to tell me where are located my rooms as Head Girl, if you want, we can use them to figure out how you are going to tell Harry, ok?"

Ron wasn't at all convinced about the telling Harry part, but he agreed anyway.

Back in the common room, there were only Harry and Ginny hunched in a corner one over the other kissing the living daylights out of each other. Neither of them noticed the muffled sob Hermione let out nor her running up the stairs to her bedroom. Ronald just closed his eyes and walked to his own room, a lone tear making its way down his cheek.

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Monday came in a rush. As promised, that morning, McGonagall announced the Head Boy and Head Girl of that year, being Blaise Zabini and Hermione Granger respectively.

Within two months of receiving her own bedroom, rumors started to come and go. The student body believed that Ron and Hermione were an item, and, taking advantage of her new status as Head Girl, she used her rooms to 'meet' with her supposed boyfriend, Ronald Weasley.

Harry and Ginny had been busy trying to save a relationship that, for everyone except them and maybe the other two thirds of the golden trio, was obvious it would never work, that they didn't even know about the rumors spreading through the castle about the brunette and the redhead.

Tired about Ronald's constant moping, Hermione had convinced him to talk to Harry about his situation, and one snowy Hogsmeade weekend, the bushy haired girl had dragged Ginny to Madame Puddyfoot's while the boys strolled down to the Quidditch store.

Taking advantage of the nearly empty path, Ronald began to talk.

"Harry...?"

"Yeah mate?"

"I... I have something to tell you, and it's important... Can we please go somewhere where we can be alone?"

Sensing the nervousness rolling off in waves from his best friend, Harry accepted and brought him to the Shrieking Shack, both boys unaware that someone was following them.

"Ok, so... What is it that you want to talk about? You look as if you just saw a boggart, mate. You sure you ok?"

"Y-yes, I'm ok... Listen, Harry... I don't know how you will take this but... I'm gay..."

"Ok..."

"And I like someone..."

"Look mate, I don't really want to know who this guy is, ok... Just..."

"Harry please, it's important! Listen to me!" In that moment, Ron tried to come close to Harry, and when he reached out to touch his arms, Harry jerked away from him, his face contorting in disgust and anger.

"What the fuck Ron! Don't touch me! Listen, I am not a faggot like you ok? And besides, I'm your sister's boyfriend! If you can't respect that, I think it's better we cut it off here." Harry strode to the door. "Just leave Ginny and I alone, ok?"

Harry left behind a very confused and extremely heartbroken Ronald Weasley. He stayed there staring at the door for what felt like hours, then, left the Shack barely watching his way out. Tears were making it quite difficult for him to see where he was going.

When he was nearing Honeydukes, Hermione caught up with him and forced him to almost run back to the castle, tears of her own running freely down her cheeks.

Once back in the castle, protected by the security and privacy Hermione's rooms provided, both let their feelings rule them for a moment. Both cried on their own until neither had more tears to shred.

"I take it didn't go well with Harry?" she whispered.

"Called me a faggot, then told me to leave him and Ginny alone and left me there... You told Ginny how you feel 'bout her, I reckon?"

"Called me a filthy lesbian and punched me in the face... Told me to never talk to her again." It was then that Ron noticed the slight swelling in Hermione's cheek and the tiny thread of blood coming from a small cut on her cheekbone.

Hermione saw Ron's intentions when the ginger's ears turned nearly the same shade as his hair and his face hardened.

"Please Ron, don't do anything. It's not worth it!"

"Not worth it... You know... There have been homosexual Weasleys throughout the generations. When mum told every and each one of us about this... Thing... She warned us that it could happen to one of us. I guess that... Even the most kind of people turns biased when it happens to them..." Hermione stood from her place and walked to where Ron was, wrapping her arms around him and letting him sob to his heart's contempt.

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When Ron finally made it to the common room, only Harry, Ginny, Neville, Dean and Seamus were there. They were playing exploding snap so he thought he could make it unnoticed to his bedroom, but to his chagrin, Ginny noticed him. "Spent a good time with your little... Friend? Dear brother?" she said, malice laced in her voice.

He could tell from the way Seamus, Dean and Harry looked at him, and Neville's apologetic smile, that his supposed best friend and sister had spilled the beans to at least everyone that had been in the common room when they arrived. Sure thing tomorrow morning he and Hermione would have to brace themselves for all the reactions there would be...

How he wished nobody knew them. As soon as the news was out, the whole wizarding society would be hovering above his and Hermione's heads. Being related to Harry Potter had never been a pain in the arse as it was now. How he wished he hadn't fall for him...

******************************************************************************

Christmas holidays were hell for Ron. He came out to his family two days after he and Ginny arrived home and all his brothers, father and sister shunned him one way or another. The only one who still gave a nut for him was his mother.

"I love you no matter what, Ronald. You are my child, and now I not only love you because I am your mother, but because you had the courage to trust your family with something so personal, and most of all because you had the courage to accept yourself. I'm sure that in time they will realize their mistake and come back to their senses, my love. Don't worry." she had said after everyone else had shouted bad words and derisive comments, leaving him with yet a deeper wound in his heart and puffy red eyes. By the time his mother had finished yelling her children and husband, leaving them with bleeding ears, Ron's cheeks had begun to sting thanks to the salty fat tears. She kissed his forehead and wrapped him in a tight hug.

Harry and Hermione arrived almost at the same time. Ron had gone out to welcome Hermione and Ginny to welcome her boyfriend, saying that it was awkward would be an understatement.

Mrs. Weasley, thankfully, offered Harry to stay in Percy's room, while Ron had requested her to let him share his room with the brunette. She, as the amazing mother she was, had caught glimpses of the situation the golden trio was in now and had allowed it, no questions asked.

"How did it go?"

"Everyone, except mum, hates me. Dad can't stand looking at me, if I'm in the same room as him, he just shifts in his place uncomfortably and avoids me whenever he can, Bill and Charlie don't live here but I guess if they did, they'd treat me the same... Fleur actually threatened Bill to do something he hates if he didn't stop acting like an idiot... It didn't work. Percy pretends I don't exist, the twins are always calling me names and playing their worst jokes on me and Ginny... Well, she mocks me whenever she can..."

"That bad, huh?" she gave him a sad smile.

The rest of the holidays, Hermione and Ron spent almost every time either studying or planning what they wanted to do with their lives once school was over. Harry's friendship with Ron was long since dead, and Hermione only talked to him when it was necessary.

This dynamic didn't change when they went to Hogwarts. Students of every house sometimes went out of their way to pull a prank on either of them. The only ones who seemed to be a bit civil were Draco Malfoy and Daphne Greengrass, much to everyone's surprise.

One day after potions, Draco and Daphne had stayed behind to help Hermione and Ron clean the classroom, because their cauldron had exploded and it had been a complete mess. When they were done, Malfoy had asked to speak with Ron in private, both going to one of the unused classrooms in the dungeons. Harry had remained hidden near the classroom to listen to what his former friends talked about with the ferret and followed the blonde and the redhead hidden under his invisibility cloak.

"I know your secret, Ron..." The redhead went pale at hearing this. "I've known since the day you told Hermione in that old classroom... And..."

"Please, don't tell anyone! I know we are not even friends, but please... No one outside the Weasley family and those we decided to share our secret with know. Please Malfoy, I beg you!"

"Ron, you don't have to beg. I won't tell a soul. But... There's something I've wanted to tell you ever since we came back, but when I heard you talk about Potter with Hermione... I decided against it. Believe me when I tell you that I wouldn't be telling you this if I could keep my feelings under control, but I can't..."

"What... What do you mean?"

"Ron... I'm in love with you. No, listen to me! I know that you can only love one person, and that that is Potter, but... Maybe, if you gave me a chance, I could earn your trust... Perhaps I could help you find a way to forget him..."

Ron was rendered speechless. He couldn't believe what he just heard... Draco Malfoy... In love with him? Surely that was a joke or something...

"Listen if this is some kind of plan to hurt me..."

"I would never hurt you! You are the most precious thing to me, I love you!" suddenly, Malfoy's face was only inches from his, his hands had traveled fast; one was cupping his cheek while the other was in the small of his back, holding him in place. "Please... Just... A chance..." Silver eyes were hypnotic, and only when soft pink lips pressed against his, did Ron registered what was happening.

None of them noticed a very angry Harry closing the door as carefully as he could.

"I-I don't know... Just... Let me think about it, ok? It's just that... I would be feeling like I'm only using you and that's not right!" Pleading eyes made him look away. He sighed. "Just... Let me think about it, ok?" He left the room.

Halfway to Hermione's rooms, he was pushed into a classroom on the third floor. Harry took off the cloak and shoved Ronald further into the classroom, making him trip with a bench and fall to the floor.

"I can't believe it!"

"W-What?"

"First you say you like me and then, at the first opportunity you have, you go and give yourself to Malfoy! You're nothing but a slut!" Ron couldn't believe his ears, what the hell was happening to Harry?

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid! I heard you two talking! You kissed Malfoy just some minutes ago!"

"No! He was the one who kissed me! Harry, I swear! Believe me!" Ron tried to touch Harry, but he pushed him and made him trip again.

"Don't you dare talk to me again!" The redhead looked at him from his position in the floor, tears in his eyes. When Harry smacked the door shut, he thought he heard something breaking... His heart again, maybe.

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"What happened? Why are you crying?" Hermione said worriedly when she entered her small living room and saw Ron hunched over himself on the couch trying to calm himself.

"H-Harry... He followed us... M-Malfoy told me he... Loves me... And Harry heard him. Draco said that... Maybe he could make me... Forget Harry... To give him a chance... Harry heard him and saw when Malfoy kissed me and then said that I... That I was a slut and told me to never talk... To him again..."

"So that's why he didn't come to lunch... Ginny looked very upset about that... Even told Lavender off... But, what are you going to do?"

"Dunno... Told Malfoy that I would think about it." Hermione looked at him oddly. "What? If I'm bound to love someone who hates me, might as well try to be content with someone who do loves me and keep madness at bay."

"He's been mean to us ever since we met him... You can't be serious!"

"But he's been nice lately!"

"A few days doesn't make up for six years of calling us names and hexing us and getting away with it!"

"Listen, I know, ok? But if he's willing to try to help me, might as well give him a chance..."

Hermione sighed in defeat. "I still don't like it. But I guess there's no making you change your mind." She took his hands in hers. "Promise me that you'll be careful. If he tries something and you don't like it, just stop it, ok? I don't want you to get even more hurt than you are now."

"I promise. Now, tell me... What's been going on between that Greengrass girl and you?"

Hermione blushed an adorable shade of pink. "She asked me to go to Hogsmeade with her next weekend... Like on a date..."

"Really? And what did you say?"

"That I'd go. She knows what I feel for Ginny, but said she didn't care. She told me that she didn't deserve my sadness and just wants to cheer me up... Actually, Daphne is not as cold as people think she is. She lost her little sister in the battle last year. Told me that sometimes she cries herself to sleep..."

"Merlin... Looks like all we can attract are snakes... You think she can make you forget my sister?"

"I don't know... I've been talking to her since she approached me almost a week after we came back from Christmas break... She certainly has her ways to make people like her." They looked at each other and then giggled, unaware of the things going on in other parts of the castle.

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Ginny was pacing in front of the hearth in the common room. She had been in a mood since her last class ended and, as her temperament was quite well known, no one dared to approach her and risk being hexed.

When the Fat Lady's portrait swung open and her dear boyfriend Harry Potter came through, she stopped her pacing. It was quite comical, really. Everyone raised their heads and looked first at Harry, then at Ginny, and people sprinted either to their rooms or pushed Harry aside to escape the common room.

To say that Harry was confused for their actions was an understatement. It was only when he saw the anger reflected in his girlfriend's face and the light blue stream of light flying at him, that he understood the situation. He barely managed to cast a wandless shield around him before it collided.

The last person to go out had, wisely enough, blocked the door from opening from the outside and asked the Fat Lady to warn whoever tried to enter, to go back the way they came.

Harry casted several privacy and silencing charms around them, and when he was done, Ginny started screaming.

"Where the hell were you?! You left me in the way out of potions talking alone and made me look like a fool! Why you didn't even show in the Great Hall?!"

"I had to do something else okay! And I did tell you I would catch up with you here! But as always! You didn't listen because you were so busy talking about yourself!" The green-eyed boy shouted back.

"And where, exactly, did you go?" Ginny's voice was deceptively calm.

"It's none of your business." declared Harry, a bit defiantly.

Ginny looked as if he had just slapped her across the face. "Then I guess that if you can't trust me, it's obvious that we shouldn't be together anymore!" she shouted the last bit, grabbing her bag and stomping to the stairs of the girls dorms.

"Fine!" shouted Harry after her.

"Fine!" she shouted back.

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A week after Draco had talked to him, Ron gave him an answer. He told him that, although he was going to try his hardest, he couldn't be sure he would succeed in forgetting Harry and returning Malfoy's feelings.

Draco had been ecstatic, to say the least, for the opportunity Ronald had given him and had practically shouted it to the whole school that evening at dinner, when he approached the Griffindor table and a few seconds later, left with a smug smirk on his face and a thoroughly kissed and bewildered Ron looking after him.

Everyone in the Great Hall had noticed, of course, and students and teachers equally were rendered speechless, jaws dropped. Ron had a bit of decency to look embarrassed, and, after clearing his throat in an attempt to kick everyone out of their stupor, Hermione started to giggle and everyone continued with their meals.

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Harry and Ginny talked about their fight and both accepted that they were only looking for a way to break up the relationship, so they agreed on remaining friends. Harry had also told Ginny why he had disappeared that day, and when he told her the part when Draco kissed Ron, he felt anger bubbling up in his chest. He didn't understand why all of a sudden, seeing his best friend being chased by his former nemesis made him furious, so he blamed it on Ron, for betraying his friendship and allying with the enemy.

Ginny, however, had seen through his façade, but didn't comment on it. She herself had had trouble admitting that the admiration she felt for her former bushy haired best friend had been nothing if not the true manifestation of her love. She finally understood that her determination in getting back with Harry was herself in denial, and the punch she gave Hermione when the brunette confessed her love for her had only made it all more real.

So, when the next Hogsmeade weekend came, which fortunately for some and unfortunately for others was Valentine's Day, the redheaded girl had decided to look for Hermione and explain everything to her. She honestly hoped that Hermione found it in herself to still love her and forgive her and forget the bad memories, so they could plan their lives together after Hogwarts.

She started looking for the brunette in Honeydukes, surely she would be there with her brother. Harry had decided to tag along to also apologize to Hermione so she asked him to tell her if he saw her. She wasn't there, and the next obvious place was Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, but, due to the way her twin brothers still treated Ronald, she doubted they would be there.

Harry suggested that maybe they had gone to the Quidditch store. Ron wasn't on the team anymore but he still bought his magazines there.

When they entered, they immediately caught sight of red hair moving through the shelves. Ginny moved towards it, followed by Harry, and what he saw made him stop dead in his tracks.

Malfoy was kissing and groping Ron in an almost indecent manner, while Ron, sweet innocent Ron, had one of his hands tangled in blonde hair trying to pull him away and the other trying to take his hands off his bum.

Ginny cleared her throat and, when she noticed that Harry was about to go near them, face contorted in anger, she gripped his hand as forcefully as she could, successfully making him stop. Malfoy broke the kiss, annoyed at the interruption, and hugged Ronald closer, planting a kiss in his throat and hiding the redhead's face in the crook of his neck.

"Ronald, have you seen Hermione?" asked Ginny a bit flustered by the situation.

"No scathing comments for my dear Ronnie today, I see... What about you Potter?" Malfoy arched a perfect blond eyebrow and hugged Ron even tighter.

"Answer the question, Weasley." Said Harry a bit strained. He looked pointedly at Ron and the redhead shook his head.

"No, she must be with Daphne, but I don't know where they are..." said Ron. When he heard footsteps going away, he turned his head and could see Harry marching to the entrance. Ginny lingered a moment, only to catch the sad, longing look in her brother's eyes. All of a sudden she understood everything.

First, she needed to find Hermione and explain all to her and then she would tell Harry about their secret. He needed to know... As soon as possible.

Leaving the store and chasing after Harry, she finally caught up with him at the entrance of The Three Broomsticks.

"Harry, wait! Where are you going?"

"I said I'd help you look for Hermione, didn't I?"

Ginny sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Listen, it's obvious that you're not well. Why don't you go back to the castle and after I've talked to Hermione I go find you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about..." he avoided her gaze.

"Whatever, but I still need to talk to you. Go back to the castle, I'll see you there." Grumbling, Harry did as he was asked and Ginny continued in her quest to find the love of her life in a sea of people.

Finally, she could see her walking out of the bookstore checking the bag of books she had in her hands. Ginny walked as fast as she could to approach the brunette, but stopped all of a sudden when a blonde, taller girl came after Hermione, wrapping her arms around her waist and kissing her cheek from behind her. Hermione giggled and turned around in Daphne's arms, cupping one of her cheeks and tenderly kissing the other. Then, as if sensing that they were being observed, Hermione turned to check her surroundings and there she saw her. Ginny was standing alone, wrapping her arms around herself looking at them. The redhead noticed her looking back and as fast as she could, wiped the tears that had fallen from her eyes.

Hermione bit her lower lip and looked at her with wariness in her eyes. Ginny looked back and gave her a sad smile, watching the blonde woman drag her away.

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Ginny entered the common room with a defeated aura hanging over her. Harry was waiting, as she had asked. Book in hand, he closed it when he noticed her and got worried when he saw the still streaming tears in his ex-girlfriend’s eyes.

"What happened? Could you talk to her? Why are you crying?"

Ginny only gave him a sad smile, took his hand and dragged him out of the room.

When they were near the lake, she made him sit down and erected privacy and silencing charms around them.

"Ok, so... What exactly did my brother tell you when he told you he was gay?"

"Well, um... Only that he was gay and that he liked me... We" gesturing between them both, "were together at the time so I told him to sod off and to let us be... Why?"

"Oh Harry... We are both a pair of idiots... And maybe we have just done the worst thing ever... There are some things I need to tell you. But I need you to listen carefully and don't interrupt me, ok? Any question you might have, I shall answer them later but please, just listen carefully to me..."

When Ginny had finally finished telling Harry what he needed to hear, he was completely out of himself. He couldn't believe what he had just been told. According to Ginny, he was the one that Ron was destined to love, and Hermione was Ginny's... But Ron was with that stupid Malfoy...

"Merlin... It's a lot to take in... Look, Ginny... I..."

"Just... Think about it, ok? Think of your actions... How you feel whenever you are near him... How you feel whenever you see him with Malfoy... Please promise me that you will at least think about it, Harry?"

Harry didn't know what to do, he just stared at her, as if looking for something on her face that might tell you everything was a joke... A well planned joke. He found nothing.

"I... I promise... I need to be alone, why... Don't you go to the common room? I'll go when I've cleared my head a bit..."

Ginny nodded and started for the castle, but stopped and sighed. Harry got up to see what Ginny was seeing and right in front of the gates of the castle were Hermione and Daphne. The blond girl tilting her head down and cupping Hermione's cheek, then she pressed her lips into hers in a soft, tender kiss.

Ginny glanced away and wiped her renewed tears, marching to the castle and putting on what she hoped was a strong façade of nonchalance.

Harry watched her go, feeling his heart break a little for the only best friend he had left.

He stayed at the lake for the remainder of the day until it was time for students to come back from the trip to Hogsmeade. It was nearly six o'clock and it was beginning to go dark. Harry decided to go back to his dorm. Halfway to the castle, he could se a mop of blond hair and realized it was Malfoy. He hid behind a tree when he heard him speak, it was a lucky thing that he had carried his invisibility cloak in his bag. With a silencing and muffling charm in place, he made his way to where the blond and the redhead had stopped, at one side of the castle's entrance.

"Please Ronnie! I know we've been together for only a week, but honestly... You have no idea how much I want you!" The blonde got closer to Ron, trapping him between the stone wall and himself. His hands flew directly to the redhead's bum and squeezed it. Ron gave a surprised yelp and, trying to avoid the contact with the groping hands, collided front to front with Draco. The blonde used this to his advantage and captured Ronald's lips with his own.

Ron gasped in surprise, not really wanting Malfoy to kiss him so passionately, but could do nothing when the blonde's tongue entered his mouth and tried to suck the air out of his lungs.

 _"Stop him... Stop him... STOP HIM!"_ Harry hadn't even realized what he had been thinking until he caught himself mere two meters from the boys, arm raised at eye's level and hand tightly clenched into a fist, ready to punch the blonde's perfect little face. Thank Merlin for Hermione and her always precise timing when she appeared through the gates shouting Ron's name.

Harry barely had time to get out of the way when Ron broke the kiss and nearly fell down trying to get away from Malfoy.

"See you later babe!" Shouted Malfoy after him. Ron only raised a hand in acknowledgement, Harry following close behind his former best friends still under his invisibility cloak.

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"Gods Ronald! He was about to suck you dry out there!"

"Don't even say it. I don't know why I always do things first and think 'bout them later..."

"That's just the way you are, I guess."

"Yeah..."

They walked in silence until Hermione heard footsteps behind them. She turned around but didn't see anyone. Harry stopped dead in his tracks, hoping the brunette wouldn't investigate any further.

"What?"

"I don't know, I just... Think I heard footsteps behind us..." Ron looked back, no one was there.

"I think that all this studying for the N.E.W.T.s is getting you a bit loose up there." Said the redhead pointing to Hermione's forehead.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny." She swatted his hand away. "Anyway... How did your first date with Malfoy go?"

Harry strengthened his silencing and muffling charms and continued following them.

"It was going well. You know, Malfoy playing Prince Charming... Saying cute things and he actually took me for lunch to one of those new posh places that opened after the war... At first he was really nervous. During lunch we talked about what we wanted to do after Hogwarts and all that stuff... Then we went for a walk and all of a sudden he dragged me to the Quidditch store... He pretended he was looking for something and when we were as far away from people as we could, he started to kiss me. He groped my bum and I tried to pull him away but I swear Mione, only he knows where he gets that strength... He was nearly crushing me against a shelf!"

"Bloody hell! And how did you get him off you? I mean... Because you did... Right?"

"Well... It wasn't exactly my doing, but I'm thankful for it nonetheless... Harry and Ginny caught us..." The redhead blushed a lovely shade of pink. "They were looking for you..."

"For me?"

"Yep... Harry actually looked really angry when he left the shop... Maybe he was disgusted at catching two blokes kissing..."

Ron's tone laced with sadness at that and Harry felt a pang in his chest. Hermione looked at her friend and gave him an apologetic smile. Ron smiled back and grabbed her hand.

"So... How did your date with the Ice Queen go?" Said Ron arching an eyebrow. Hermione's smile turned a bit happier.

"Well... First we went to grab a butterbeer to the Three Broomsticks, then we went to Honeydukes for some candy and we talked about school and her family nearly disowning her for being... Well... Gay... Then she took me to the bookstore and told me to get any books I wanted. She paid for them. Said it was a gift for putting up with her. Actually, Now that you said it... I saw Ginny a few shops away from the bookstore... She looked sad and was crying... Weird thing, she smiled at me... But I couldn't see Harry anywhere near her... Guess something happened between them?"

"Dunno... Maybe he dumped her because he couldn't stand his girlfriend having a gay brother..."

Another pang shot through Harry's chest.

"Hmmm... Anyway... So... What are you going to do about Malfoy?"

Harry couldn't hear the answer because out of nowhere a door appeared before him. He blinked owlishly at it until he realized that he was standing in front of Hermione's Head Girl rooms. Trying his best to remember where he'd been walking, he made his way to the common room, where he found Ginny seated in the windowsill staring at the Forbidden Forest.

"Hey..."

"Hey..."

"Wanna talk?"

"Not now, but... Thank you. I thing I'll go to bed now..." Ginny smiled at him, grabbed her things and disappeared through the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories.

Harry sat on the couch in front of the hearth, thinking. He had been avoiding doing exactly that but admitted that there was no use in ignoring the situation and his feelings any longer.

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Sometime around midnight Ron made it to the common room, stepping inside as quietly as he could. He knew that some of the kids liked to stay up late on saturdays and sometimes they fell asleep on the couches.

When he entered, he was surprised to see it empty, except for the lone figure laying on the couch. He came closer and saw that it was Harry. Forgetting for a second where he stood with Harry, slowly reached down to touch his face. His fingertips caressed lightly the sleeping boy's forehead, tracing a slow path to his cheek. He heard footsteps from the girls' dorms and quickly made his way to his own bed, a sad look on his face.

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Sometime around the first week of March found Hogwarts' seventh grade students running all over the castle. No one wanted to miss a place in the library, or find out that a book had already been claimed by another person as N.E.W.T.s were to be presented the last week of June.

Hermione had insisted that Ron should study more, so she made timetables to tutor him. Those took most of Ron's time that he barely had any left to eat and sleep. Using this as an excuse, he broke up with Draco.

Malfoy at first thought that the redhead was joking. No one would dare to break up with him. He was the wet dream of every girl and the envy of every boy in wizarding society, but when Ron just muttered "I'm sorry.", turned around and left, he felt a raging wave of anger wash through him.

No one, especially not a Weasley, abandoned a Malfoy like that.

Not when he offered the boy his heart, to make him his, to make him forget the one who broke his heart. Not when he, by the mere fact of asking him for a chance, offered the ungrateful boy the world. Ronald Weasley could have had everything he could never dream of... And he threw it all away.

But Draco Malfoy was no fool. He knew the real reason why Ronald broke up with him.

He would make sure to wait until all examinations were over, then, Ronald would have no excuse to keep Draco away. He would teach that Weasel a lesson sooner or later...

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Hermione had been running up and down the castle, tagging Ron along. She had asked him go hurry ahead of her to the library and try to win a table, while she ran back to her rooms to find more parchment and ink.

It was on the fifth floor that she bumped into Harry, nearly spilling what she had been carrying in her hands.

"Sorry!" she said hurriedly and started to walk again, but a hand on her arm stopped her.

"What... Harry, s-sorry, I didn't see where I was going..."

"Could I talk to you for a second?"

"Um..." it was obvious that she was uncomfortable, but he really needed to apologize for being a prat to her and make up for their lost friendship.

"It will just be a moment... If you want I can walk with you to wherever you're going... Please?"

"O-ok, but please hurry because Ron is waiting for me."

They started to walk towards Hermione's rooms. Harry knew because he recognized the armoires from the last time he'd been there.

"I wanted to apologize to you for being an idiot. I know that the way I acted towards Ron and you wasn't right, and I let prejudice blind me... I let our friendship lose and for that I will never forgive myself. If... If you want... I'd like for us to be friends again, I mean... If you and Ron are ok with it."

Hermione stopped at the entrance of her rooms and turned to look at Harry, an annoyed look on her face. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Look, Harry... It's not that I don't accept your apology or anything like that but... You and Ginny hurt us more than we let on... I can accept your apology and if you really want to rebuild our friendship... That's fine with me. But it's not me the one you have to apologize to nor am I any kind of metaphorical bridge you have to cross to get to Ronald. If you truly are sorry for the way you treated him it's him you must talk to." She sighed again. "Wait here, let me get some things I need."

She quickly came back and they both made their way to the library. Harry knew it wouldn't be easy to win Ron's friendship back, but he really was willing to try. Especially if he intended to make the redheaded boy his.

"Well... I guess I'll see you later..." She gave him a tentative smile, and he smiled back. Hermione disappeared between the sea of people coming in and out of the library. Harry tried to follow her with his gaze but it was nearly impossible. A mop of red hair appeared all of a sudden in front of Madame Pince's desk, and his eyes lit up.

He stood there, looking hopefully at the redheaded boy. Then, Ron, feeling someone's eyes upon him, turned to see who it was, and his eyes opened like plates when he found emerald-green ones.

Harry smiled at him cheerfully and Ron looked away as fast as he could, going back to the table he shared with Hermione.

Harry left with a smug smile on his face. He knew Ron would be hard to get, but at least now he was sure he could use the boy's attraction towards him on his favor.

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"Hermioneeeeee!" Ron whispered-shouted when he was near the brunette enough for her to hear.

"What?! I'm reading!"

"Harry was in the entrance... I guess he was looking for something... I felt someone looking at me and at first I thought it was Malfoy, you know how much of a creep he's been lately, always following me around... But it was Harry! And he smiled at me! It was kind of creepy... I'm sure he's planning something with the twins... They've been sending nasty things on the post... I know it! I just... Know it..." Ron's heart fell a little at the possibility of the love of his life conspiring with his brothers to make him feel like shit about his preferences...

"Ron! Stop it!" she sighed. "Look, let me gather my things and check this books out and then we'll go, ok? You should bring those too." she said pointing to the books on Ron's side of the table.

They made their way in silence to Hermione's rooms. Ron always looking behind him, his guards up and wand at the ready at all times.

Ever since he broke up with Draco, he'd been feeling like someone was always right behind him, and several times he found Malfoy staring at him from the other end of the hall. They hadn't talked at all in all that time, and he was beginning to feel sorry for the blonde. After all, he had tried his best to like Draco in more than a friendly manner, but every time he had been kissed by him, he imagined it was Harry holding him. It was wrong, and he knew that the way he broke up with the other boy was wrong too. He knew he owed an explanation to Draco and he was willing to give it.

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Harry entered the common room to find the table in the corner near the window filled to the top with books. It was impossible to see who was hiding behind the gigantic wall of school texts, so he rounded it only to find Ginny's face flat on a parchment, quill with fresh ink dripping still in her hand, asleep. He shook her gently and she awoke with a startle, the parchment pasted to her forehead.

"Eh! W-what happened?"

Harry giggled and took the parchment from her forehead. "You were studying hard, huh?"

"Oh, shut it! I can't even concentrate... I saw Hermione and Greengrass walk together to Transfigurations... They were holding hands... And that stupid blondie kissed her... On the lips!" The redhead hissed the last part angrily. Harry just took her hand and drove her to the couch.

"I talked to her a few minutes ago... I... Apologized for the way I treated her and Ron. At first she was reluctant, but then said that if I really wanted to rebuild our friendship, she would try, but that it was Ron I had to apologize, not her. She said that both of us had caused them to hurt more than we think... I guess it's the same with you... I mean, if you want to talk to her again you should apologize..."

"Yes, but how am I going to do that if she's always either with my brother in the library or with that... Greengrass girl..."

"Maybe you should wait until all the exams are over, then we won't have to worry about school and you can talk to her. Anyways, I don't think they have much future together. Daphne's father might not have been a Death Eater, but he's just as biased against Muggle-borns as all of them... Hermione and Ron will remain friends even after Hogwarts, right?" Ginny nodded. "and you told me that your mum is planning a graduation party for you and Ron, she of course will be there. All of us will be there. Yo can clear things with her and I can get my chance with Ron... How 'bout that?" He raised an eyebrow in question, she nodded again, thinking about every possibility.

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Once settled in Hermione's little living room, she started to tell Ron what she had talked with Harry. He was still skeptical about it, but decided that if Hermione wanted Harry back in her life, he couldn't stop her.

"Well, if he truly is sorry... Merlin... I don't even know what to think... It's just... Even if he apologized... Even after the way I still feel about him... He hurt me, a lot. I know that there will come a time when, if I'm still away from him, I'll start to deteriorate... And I don't want that, but I'm just too afraid to let him come near me. I don't want him to hurt me again... I don't think I'm ready to face him just yet..." Ron slumped on the couch, resting his head on Hermione's lap. She ran her fingers through his hair and stared at her little hearth.

"Does your mum know about Harry being... Well... Your destined one?"

"No. I don't want her to know. When I came out to my family, mum was the only one to support me. She nearly disowned my brothers and sister for the awful things they said to me. She was really mad at dad and didn't talk to him for a month after their fight..." the redhead fell silent. She could see him moving a hand to wipe away the tears that had just fallen.

"Hey, what's wrong? Ron... It's not your fault..."

"Yes it is! My parents had never fought before, it was the first time... And it was my fault... Mum... After Bill shouted at me that I wasn't welcome in his home and he didn't want me near his daughter, told him that if he didn't take his words back, he wouldn't be welcome at the Burrow either... If she knows that Harry rejected me, and all the things he's done after that, she won't want to see him ever again... We are the only family Harry has ever known... I can't take that away from him."

"Oh Ronald. You're too good to be true..." she giggled. "You know, sometimes, I imagine that if we liked the opposite gender... We could have been together..."

"Yeah... Sometimes I imagine that too... We could have been happy."

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After two weeks of exams, students were finally free to relax. Ron and Hermione had been sleeping at odd hours the previous months to get the best grades they could. It was Friday, the last day they had to present an exam. Fortunately for both of them, it was Charms. Flitwick had been amazed that Hermione had managed to keep Ronald on his toes and when he presented the exam, he could perform every spell perfectly.

On their way out of the classroom, they encountered Headmistress McGonagall and Hermione asked her if she could share her rooms the rest of the term with Ronald, after all, he only went to the dorms to sleep whenever he needed to get something from there. They told her that he'd been sleeping on the couch and she agreed.

"I'll ask the elves to add a second bedroom for you, Mr. Weasley, but please, be careful. I know there's only one month left of classes but I don't want people talking. Understood?"

"Yes, Headmistress." she looked at then with a hard gaze, making them feel like first years again, then winked at them and left.

They went to the Great Hall, food was to be served and the rest of the classes were cancelled for the seventh year students. Hermione and Ron seated at the end of the Griffindor table facing each other and both piled their plates til they were full. Between bites, Ron was yawning, provoking giggles in Hermione and sometimes she chastised him.

"Come on Ronald! At least try to swallow before you yawn! Eat fast, I'm tired too, wanna sleep all weekend if I can..."

"Yeah... Merlin! Shouldn't have taken all that food... I'm full... Let's get going, I can't eat anymore..." He was going to wait for Hermione to finish, but from the corner of his eye, he could see Harry approaching, so he grabbed an apple, put it in his pocket and, as Hermione was swallowing her last bite, dragged her out of the Hall.

Harry was left standing there, midway to his destination, baffled. He turned to look at Ginny and she only shrugged, looking at the two retreating heads of her brother and former best friend.

The scene wasn't missed by Draco Malfoy. He felt something akin to hope stir in his chest. Surely if Weasley didn't want anything to do with Potter, he would have gotten over his ridiculous obsession for the green-eyed boy already. He would make sure to get his dear Ronnie back, but this time, the redhead would beg for it...

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Hermione noticed why Ron wanted to get out of the Great Hall, but decided not to comment on it.

They made it back to Hermione's rooms and noticed that a second door had been added next to where the brunette's bedroom was. They opened it and found that Ron's belongings had already been moved in there.

"Perfect! Look Mione, this bed is bigger than the one I had in the dorms!" he let himself fall face first on his bed, bouncing a little, and the girl seated next to him. "Gods!" he moaned. "And it's a lot more comfortable! Guess I'll sleep now..."

Hermione giggled. "Ok, so I'll leave you to it. I'll go get some sleep myself. See you when I wake up..."

"If we wake up today..."

"Ok... Sleep tight!"

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Ron promised Hermione that he would talk to Draco and clear things... Somewhere next week...

They spent Saturday and Sunday in their rooms, Hermione trying to read a book... Ron trying to think how he was going to explain things to Draco without breaking even more the boy's heart.

All week Draco had been less of a creep and greeted him whenever he saw him.

It was finally on Friday that Ron built up the courage to talk to his ex-boyfriend. He caught up with him before the boy could leave the classroom and told Hermione to wait for him outside.

"Draco... Um... I was wondering if I could talk to you later today... There is something I really need to tell you..."

"Ok! I'll see you at the entrance of the dungeons at five sharp." Draco approached quickly and presses a light kiss to Ron's cheek. The redhead blushed a bit and cleared his throat.

"O-ok... At five in the dungeons... See you later..." he said and then left the classroom, dragging Hermione in his way out.

Once they were safely hidden behind the door of their rooms, he let go of her hand and slumped in the couch.

"What did he say?" asked Hermione a bit concerned.

"To meet him at the entrance of the dungeons at five o'clock... Then he kissed me on the cheek..."

"And what are you going to tell him? Daphne told me that, since last Friday, he's been like in seventh heaven... She told me that he heard him talking with Blase Zabini about getting you back and making you forget Harry for good... Please promise you'll be careful? You know how he was after you broke up with him..."

"Mione, there's nothing to worry. I'll just talk to him, but I promise. I'll keep my wand at the ready. Anyway, I should probably get ready... I still don't know how I'm going to make him understand that I can't love him..."

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It was ten minutes to five. He was walking through the corridors as slowly as his long legs allowed him. He really didn't want to go there. All of a sudden, something inside of him told him that it wasn't a good idea after all to meet Draco alone, but it was too late to back down now. He had an explanation to give and, summoning all his Griffindor courage, squared his shoulders and kept on walking.

Draco was already there when he arrived. The smirk that appeared on the blonde's lips made him shiver, but tried to hide it as best as he could. He advanced some more to greet the boy but Draco grabbed his hand and dragged him down the dungeons.

"Come, I know where we can talk in private."

Ron was sure that he'd never been in this part of the dungeons before. He got lost somewhere along the fifth hall they passed.

Draco stopped in front of what looked like a cell. It smelled of centuries worth of humidity and Ron was sure he could almost see what looked like dried stains of old blood on the walls.

"So... What was it that you wanted to tell me?" The blonde tried to lace their fingers together, so the redhead gently removed his hand from the other's grasp.

"I... Um... I wanted to apologize... For the way I broke up with you. The truth is... That I didn't end our relationship because of the exams..."

"Ronnie, I know." Draco looked at him with understanding in his eyes. "I know you did it because you didn't want to hurt me, but it's ok. I saw the way you avoided Potter the other day in the Great Hall. I am very proud of you! You have finally gotten over that stupid crush on Pothead. We can finally be together." Draco came closer to him, taking both of his hands in his own, lacing their fingers together.

"That's exactly the problem, Draco. The thing is... That it's not just a stupid crush. I swear that I tried as hard as I could to forfeit any kind of feelings towards Harry, but I can't. I tried to love you!" desperation was laced in his voice. His eyes began to tickle with the imminent presence of unshed tears. "You were so nice and good to me and I can't love you despite how hard I try!"

Draco let go of his hands. He could see through his wet lashes the sadness imprinted in the blonde's face. It made his heart ache for the boy whose heart he broke again.

"Can I kiss you at least one last time?" Ron was surprised by the boy's request, but accepted anyway. He supposed it was the least thing he could do for the blonde right now.

Draco placed both of his hands on Ron's cheeks, caressing them. Then, tangled his fingers in soft fiery locks and kissed him. It was the most tender and innocent kiss the blonde had ever given him, and it felt so wrong...

He could feel lips moving above his, thinking that Draco wanted to deepen the kiss, so he opened his mouth to grant access. He wanted to return such tenderness and tangle his fingers in blonde hair, but discovered that he couldn't move. Not even a single finger.

He panicked.

As Draco moved away, he could hear him chuckling. It was a dark, vicious sound. Ron felt his insides get cold. That kind of cold you get when you are terrified out of your wits.

"D-Draco? What happened? What did you do to me?!" The quiver in Ron's voice made Draco smile. It was a horrible smile. It reflected malice, and the look on his eyes was that of the same mad men he had battled not so long ago. It was the same look on the face of Bellatrix Lestrange when she tortured Hermione at Malfoy Manor.

"Draco, p-please..." Ron begged, realizing what was going to happen next.

"Please what, love? You said that it was impossible for you to get rid of those ridiculous feelings for Potter, "he spit on the name. "so I, as the generous person I am, promised to help you, didn't I?"

"D-Draco, no... Please! What are you going to do?!"

"I'll keep my promise, Ronnie. I will help you. I swear that when I'm done with you, you will only think of me... But first, we need to get rid of this, don't we?" Draco pulled the wand from Ron's pocket and threw it away.

"Now, we can begin... Love." He snarled the last word and threw the first punch, landing his fist in Ron's stomach, effectively making him bend in pain and then falling to the floor.

"I didn't want to get to this, Ronald... But you didn't leave me an option..." He bent and kissed the redhead forcefully on the lips. Using his wand he muttered a spell and got rid of the boy's clothes...

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Harry and Ginny were talking in the common room. It was nearly nine o'clock, but they were the only ones there, so, when the portrait swung open and Hermione came through it, they were both surprised.

"Um.. Hi... Eh... Harry... Could you please lend me your map?"

"Sure, Accio Marauders' Map!" Ginny was stunned into silence, only watching Hermione. Harry noticed that she had begun to bite her lip, something he knew very well she did when she was anxious.

"Hermione, are you alright?" he asked worriedly. He opened the map and extended it to her.

"No, sorry, it's just... Ron went to apologize to Malfoy for the way he broke up with him... Said he didn't want to break his heart or bring his hopes up again so he went to clear things with him... He left our rooms at five... I was reading a book and when I noticed it was late... I've been looking for him but I can't find him... I thought that maybe you could help me..."

Hearing that her brother was missing finally snapped Ginny out of her daze. On impulse, she grabbed Hermione's hand in hers and looked her in the eyes.

"Don't worry, we'll find him." she smiled at the brunette. Hermione tugged her hand gently out of Ginny's grasp and nodded, looking at Harry while he read the map.

Ginny's heart fell a little, but she decided that first things first. She was going to help find her brother and then she would talk to Hermione once and for all.

"He is in the dungeons, although... Look... It's like four levels beyond the Slytherin common room..."

Hermione gasped. "That part of the castle is forbidden... There are even enchantments to keep students away... It's the cellars. In Merlin's time, they used it to keep prisoners and torture them for information... If Malfoy took him there... Oh Gods! This is bad!"

Hermione sprinted towards the dungeons, wanting to get to Ron. Ginny and Harry went after her but Harry stopped in the middle of the hall.

"Wait! Someone must tell McGonagall, she should know what to do."

"I'll go," said Ginny, "you go and find my brother."

Harry and Hermione kept running through the castle until they reached the dungeons. Harry unfolded the map again and it showed the path they had to follow to get to Ron. Both went forward, wands at the ready.

Harry's mind started to work faster than ever, thinking of the various scenarios he would find Ron in. Not even one was nice. How he wanted to find Malfoy and skin him alive! Whatever he had done to his Ron, he would make sure the ferret paid for it.

They could finally find the cellar Ron was in. He was tied with shackles to a wall and his face was swollen and blood ran freely through his cuts. Hermione ran to him, noticing that he was barely dressed. His school robes were nothing but rags, thrown to him in a manner that they could only cover his modesty.

"Oh Gods, Ronald! What has he done to you?!" she came closer to examine him better, see if she could move him without inflicting more damage, but when she tried to touch him, she felt a strong wave of electricity course through her veins and she recoiled in pain.

Ron whimpered and shifted uncomfortably, it was when Hermione noticed it. There, where his shoulder connects with his head, was a mark. It looked like someone carved it with a dagger and it was still bleeding.

"Step aside, child!" said McGonagall with a stern voice. She vanished the shackles and the boy slumped to the floor. Hermione moved to help him, but seeing the mark on his neck, the Headmistress stopped her.

"Don't touch him. That mark is Dark Magic... We don't know what effects it will have on him or you if you touch him."

The old woman conjured a linen sheet to cover him and enveloped him as carefully as she could. "Mr. Weasley, can you hear me?"

"Y-yes..." he whispered the word. Even though they could barely hear him, they could tell his throat was sore.

"Ok, I'm going to levitate you and take you to the hospital wing. I will stun you so you can't feel anything at all, is that alright?"

"Y-yes..."

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When Harry saw Ron and his blood froze. He was immediately reminded of the war. How he'd seen the broken corpses of tortured people flood the streets of Wizarding Britain.

Ginny had to grab his arm in order to keep him in place. How he wished he had made things better earlier... Hell, how he wished he had never estranged his best friend! Maybe, if he hadn't been an arsehole to Ronald, the boy wouldn't have accepted Malfoy in the first place...

McGonagall stunned Ronald and levitated him in front of her, Hermione moving to walk near his head. She had to fight the urge to touch Ron's hand.

Once they arrived to the hospital wing, Madame Pomfrey placed the boy on a cot, closing the courtains around it and proceeding to run diagnostic spells on him.

"I should go and inform your parents, Miss Weasley. Please, stay here."

Ginny nodded, tears already falling from her eyes. Hermione was staring at the curtains, as if trying to see what was happening behind them. Harry was pacing from one end of the length of the cot to the other, hoping that Ron was alright.

Some minutes later, the doors of the infirmary were burst open and Mrs. Weasley entered, followed by her husband and the rest of her children.

"Where is my son?" McGonagall entered a few seconds later, trying to calm the Weasley matriarch.

"Molly please, Madame Pomfrey is tending to him. I'm sure she'll let you see him soon..."

"How can this be? What happened to my child?" The redheaded woman was already sobbing in the other witch's arms. Her husband tried to touch her, but she swatted his hand again.

Mrs. Weasley let go of the Headmistress as soon as the mediwitch came out of the curtains, nearly tripping over Harry, who had stopped his pacing right in front of her. The rest of the Weasley children and their father jerked from their places, faces grim with guilt and sorrow.

"Can I see him now?" asked Mrs. Weasley. She wanted nothing more than be with her youngest son right now. The rest of her children, Mr. Weasley, Harry and Hermione all gathered a step behind her, wanting to hear the mediwitch's veredict.

"Yes, but first... I'm afraid that I must tell you what it was that I found in young Ronald." The mediwitch sighed and punched the corners of her eyes. After what she was going to say, there was no way she could keep her tears from falling any longer.

"Many curses were used on him. Their effects will fade with time..." she trailed off and sighed one again. Her lower lip trembled, took a sharp intake of breath and continued as calm as she could.

"There is just one curse that I can't do anything about... It's a mark on his neck. The only thing I know about it is that it concentrates the majority of the Dark Magic performed on him.

"The boy was... Tortured, using magic and muggle means. That caused several of his organs to get damaged, internal bleeding and some broken bones. One of the broken ribs punctured his lung, but fortunately it wasn't a severe wound and he should heal properly.

"The most thorough diagnosis spell I performed showed... That young Ronald was brutally raped." Mrs. Weasley couldn't take it any longer and broke down into a sobbing mess.

"C-Can I see him?"

"Yes but please, don't touch him. The curse on his neck repeals anyone who tries to do it."

Molly tried not to cry louder in order to keep Ron asleep. She came closer to his son's bed and could see how pale he was. Hermione went to the other side of his bed and kneeled. Silence flooded the place, the only thing that they could hear was the soft _thump thump_ sound of Ron's beating heart. Madam Pomfrey had enabled it somewhere during her treatment of the boy, but they could only notice it now.

Molly was whispering sweet nothings in Ron's ear. Hermione put her head over one of her hands and the other above Ron's head, on his pillow. Mrs. Weasley took her hand in one of hers and squeezed lightly.

"Thank you for being there when he needed you the most, dear. It means a lot to me knowing that he still has people who cares for him." she gave the brunette a soft smile and started to sob again, trying uselessly to wipe off the tears. Hermione wiped her own tears and squeezed back.

"I love him as a brother. I'd do everything for him."

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The exchange of words between the two women pierced a hole in everyone's hearts.

Bill and Charlie looked at each other with guilt in their eyes. How could they let this happen? They were the oldest! They were supposed to protect their youngest brothers and their little sister no matter what... They were supposed to love them above anything and they let Ron down... They failed him...

Percy's face was a blank mask, the only thing giving away his feelings was his trembling lower lip. He couldn't stand it. All this time pretending that his brother didn't exist, and now, he'd been close to losing him... How could he, being the smartest of all his brothers, be so stupid and biased?! After fighting in a war against a man whose battle flag was discrimination and violence!

The twins had their heads hung down, eyes avoiding the scene. They were so ashamed of the way they treated their brother... And they felt so jealous that when he had needed someone the most, it was a girl that had barely known him for eight years, when they had been there ever since he was born. They should be the ones besides that bed, not her. They should be planning a way to get back to the person who hurt their little brother... They looked at each other and, in silent communication, decided what they were going to do.

Ginny was crying in Harry's shoulder. How couldn't she see it before? How could she be so blind? Her brother was lying in that bed, all hurt and raped, because she was so stupid and wanted so badly something that wasn't for her when what she deserved had been always right in front of her. Ron and her had been best friends ever since she was born. They had protected each other countless times... Hell, they fought in a war together! She had no idea how, but she would win back her brother's trust.

Mr. Weasley couldn't take his eyes off of his son's abused form. How could he let his son be hurt that way? Wasn't his job, after all, to take care of his children and protect them from any harm? How could he let himself fail so monumentally to one of the most important people in his life? " _He still has people who cares for him._ " said his wife. He might not have said anything, but the way he treated his son after he trusted them with something so personal, hoping that they still loved him regardless of that... He should have supported him and approach the situation like the Griffindor he was supposed to be. Instead, he acted like a coward and rejected his youngest son. He knew he made a lot of mistakes in the past, but not a single one like this. He walked towards his wife and placed a hand on her shoulder, his eyes never leaving Ron's slightly swollen face. Silently, he vowed to make things right for his baby boy.

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Hearing that Ronald had been raped felt like someone had stabbed his heart with a stake. Harry couldn't believe his ears. He didn't want to believe... That Malfoy had been capable to hurt sweet, kind Ronald like that! The boy always bragged about his love for the redhead, he surely wouldn't...

Then he remembered. When he heard Malfoy almost begging Ron to bed him after almost one week of being together. The possessive way in which the blonde always held Ron when they were together... And the way he followed the redhead everywhere he went like a creep... Ever since Ron caught him, he made sure to never be alone. Either Hermione or Luna were always with him...

When Hermione finally stood up, he approached the space she was previously kneeling in and tried to curl his hair in his fingers, but Mrs. Weasley stopped him.

"No! Please... Madame Pomfrey said..."

"I know. I just..." it was then and there when the tears he'd been bravely holding back came out. "It's my fault! If I had just listened to him! If I had just realized and accepted my feelings for him sooner, he wouldn't be in a hospital bed!"

"Harry? W-what are you talking about? None of this is your fault!" said Mrs. Weasley. She honestly had no idea what the boy was talking about.

"Yes it is! When he told me he was gay, he wanted to tell me something else... He said that... That it was important... I deduced that he liked me because he was so nervous and I just freaked out... Ever after the war I started to question my own preferences... And I was so repulsed by it... I let all the hate the Dursleys inflicted upon me to lash out on Ron and I pushed him away..."

"Harry are you saying... That... You are Ron's destined one?"

"Y-yes... I mean, I think so... I think that was what he was trying to tell me..."

"Yes you are..." Whispered Hermione. "He told me at the beginning of the school year... We were talking about it and we heard a noise come from the hall... We went to investigate but couldn't see anyone... Sometime after Christmas break, Malfoy approached him and asked him to be his boyfriend... Ron didn't want to accept, he didn't want to hurt Malfoy but said that if he was willing to try to make him happy, he should at least give him a chance..." she sighed and looked down, not wanting to make things harder. "He was so hurt by all the rejection that he was willing to take some love from whoever willing to give it. He just wanted the pain to go away..."

Hermione cleared her throat and looked at Mrs. Weasley, who nodded for her to continue.

"Malfoy was nice to him, I mean, he showed that he really cared... But Ron wasn't ok with the relationship. He told me that he had regretted getting together with Malfoy after their first date... When you and Ginny saw them at the Quidditch store, he knew that he wouldn't be able to care for Draco... He wanted so bad to end his relationship that he even let me make him a study plan and used his lack of free time as an excuse." she giggled. It was such a sad sound that the only effect it had was bringing back tears to everyone's eyes.

"They didn't talk after they broke up, but Draco started to act weird... Ron told me that, sometimes, he had caught Malfoy following him around the school. In the few classes we had with him he always stared at Ron and never looked away. Ron got a bit freaked out by his behavior and we always made sure to keep him accompanied everywhere he went...

"Ron was so ashamed of the way he broke up with Draco that he wanted to apologize and make things clear... He didn't want to bring his hopes up." the brunette's voice trembled. "Merlin... I should have at least accompanied him to where Malfoy was... It's my fault he's here..." she couldn't stand it any longer and started to cry. Ginny tried to get to Hermione and embrace her, to reassure her that it wasn't her fault. But her mother beat her to it.

Molly hugged the brunette close to her chest, burying her nose in dark curls. "It was not your fault, darling. You couldn't have known this was going to happen..."

Mr. Weasley finally approached both women and embraced them both. "Thank you for being there for him, Hermione. I know my actions towards my son said more than any word I could have uttered... And I know I failed him miserably, but I promise I'll make it better." he looked towards Ron's bed. "I want nothing more than to see him happy... I don't know how I could let myself be so... Insensitive towards my child..." he started to sob.

"I know you are sorry, Mr. Weasley, but... It's not me the one you should apologize nor make promises to." Hermione looked him in the eye, missing the determined looks on everyone else.

Harry, however, felt like shit. Hearing that his dear Ron had gone to seek love somewhere else punched him right in the gut.

He knew that he had to do something regarding Ron, but right now the only thing he could do was stare at him, hoping he would wake up soon.

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The Weasleys had stayed in the castle. It was a week later from the attack that Ron finally woke up. All of them, including Harry and Hermione, had taken turns to keep an eye on him while he was asleep, not wanting to risk Malfoy sneaking in and hurting him more.

When Ron opened his eyes, the only person he saw was Harry and all of a sudden he felt self-conscious, memories of that awful day flooding back to him. Harry was only staring at him in awe, not knowing what to say.

"Hi... Um... Do you want some water?" he said, a bit awkward.

"C-can you please call Hermione?" he whispered, not looking at him.

Madame Pomfrey had placed a spell to tell her when her patient woke up. She came rushing through her office door and shooing Harry away, started to fire diagnostic spells to the redheaded boy.

"Well Mr. Weasley, looks like all your injuries are healing marvelously. I'll inform your mother that you're awake. She should want to see you.

"Is my m-mother here? Did you t-tell her about..." Ron avoided all eye contact with the mediwitch. He was so ashamed of what had happened...

The mediwitch looked at him compassionately and sighed, placing one of her hands in the boy's chin, making him look at her. Harry was watching them partially hidden behind the curtain, waiting for the woman to finish so he could talk to Ron.

"Listen to me Ronald. None of the things that happened that night are your fault, ok? You couldn't have known that Mr. Malfoy was going to act in such a vile manner. So don't dwell on it, boy, and try to get over it. You are a strong young man and I'm sure that with the love and support of your family you'll be as good as new soon." she smiled and winked at him.

"Thank you, ma'am, but I don't think my family will want to have anything to do with me after all that happened... The only one supporting me is my mother, and she is all I have now... Well, she and Hermione... Is my mother here? I want to see her... Please don't let anyone come in but her..." his voice was sad. Harry wanted nothing more than to hug him but deciding to respect Ron's request, let go of the curtain and went to wait to one of the beds at the other side of the infirmary.

Mrs. Weasley came in a few minutes later banging the doors to the place open. Her baby had just woken up and no one would stop her from seeing him. She was closely followed by her husband, an excited Hermione and the rest of her brood.

Ginny, although she was happy for her brother's awakening, was frustrated. She noticed Harry moping in a bed and went to sit next to him, both smiling at each other with defeated smiles.

"Hey..."

"Hey..."

"Have you talked to Hermione yet?"

"No. Stupid blondie can't leave her alone for a minute. I even asked Luna to help me a bit but couldn't do much... Yesterday I tried to corner her in the library but she avoided me, maybe she thinks that I'll do something to her... I don't know..."

"Why would she think that?"

"Well..." Ginny's face darkened the same shade of red as her hair. "Sometime during Christmas I caught her and Ron sneaking to the pond... I followed them... Ron left her alone for some minutes and I pushed her into the water... It wasn't completely frozen but the water was cold and heavy. Obviously her clothes got wet... The problem is that she was wearing one of those heavy coats she loves... It got heavier with all the water and she nearly drowned... I got afraid and didn't know what to do so I just ran away when I heard Ronald come back... He could barely drag her out of there... She never told anyone, I guess..."

"Shit... So that's why she said that you and I had hurt them more than they let on..." the green-eyed boy sighed and ran a hand tiredly through his hair. "I don't know how we're going to get them back but we have to..."

Harry started to pace, glancing from time to time to the curtains protecting Ron's privacy. Mrs. Weasley and Hermione were in there with him. His father and the rest of his brothers were waiting for them outside. It was obvious for the way Mr. Weasley was trying to wipe away tears that Ron had made it clear he didn't want to see any of them.

Suddenly, Harry stopped. "What is Greengrass doing here?"

"What?" Ginny turned to look at the entrance and saw Hermione's girlfriend walking towards the redheads. The blonde girl turned to look at Harry and Ginny, and when she met the redhead's eyes, she nodded courtly and continued on her way.

They watched the blonde girl approach Bill. She asked something and, a bit bewildered and wary, nodded, pointing to the curtain. The blonde nodded back and went to sit patiently on one of the beds. Neither Ginny nor Harry could stop staring at her.

Some minutes later, Mrs. Weasley and Hermione came out from behind the curtains. Greengrass approached Hermione and shook the matriarch's hand. They exchanged some words and then Hermione waved goodbye to all the redheads. Daphne grabbed Hermione's hand in hers and laced their fingers together.

When they were near enough, Ginny could see their hands intertwined and wanted nothing more than to kill the blonde. She stared at Hermione and the brunette only looked away, pressing herself tighter to the blonde's side, as if protecting herself.

Ginny wanted to go after them and clear things with Hermione right then and there, but this time, it was Harry who stopped her. "Not now!." he whispered and Ginny had no other option than to obey.

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"Can I see Ron now?" asked Mr. Weasley nervously, trying to peek through the curtain's opening.

"I'm sorry dear, he fell asleep again. My poor boy doesn't want to stay here... He told me that as soon as he was discharged, he wanted to go home. I'll go talk to Minerva later and see if he can leave the castle before the graduation..."

Mr. Wesley's hopes deflated like a balloon. He really wanted to apologize to Ron and make him feel better.

"Could you touch him?" asked Bill a bit wary. He had wanted to see the mark on his brother's neck to start investigating on how to break and remove it, but Madame Pomfrey had forbidden anyone except Molly and Hermione to come close to the boy.

"Yes. Poppy thinks that all the Dark magic used on him should have settled down, that's why we can touch him now, but we don't know what after effects it will have on him later. Even though it's dormant, I could feel a great deal of evil on it. Hermione said she would look in the library looking for it. That lovely girl... Daphne, said that Minerva had granted them access to look in the restricted section should they find nothing in the other books."

"May I see it? I promise I'll be as careful as possible. I don't want to upset Ron any further..."

Mrs. Weasley wasn't convinced but nodded anyway. It wasn't that she didn't trust her own son, but after the way he and his brothers had treated her youngest, she still had her doubts about their intentions.

Bill entered to where Ronald was and came closer to him, peeking through the neck of his sweater and when he saw the mark he gasped.

"W-what?" asked his mother in a hushed, afraid tone.

"Let's go outside."

Everyone gathered around them and looked at Bill expectantly. "I think we should call Hermione..."

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It had been a week since he last saw Ronald. Damn that stupid mudblood for burying her nose where it doesn't belong.

He had just been gone for a few minutes to retrieve a special portkey to travel to Malfoy Manor and then leave the country with his love and oh, surprise, when he came back the redhead was gone.

When he saw the sea of red hair flow to the hospital wing, he knew where his Ronnie was.

Draco had been rounding up the infirmary in a reconnaissance mission since saturday morning, but it had been impossible. His future parents-in-law and brothers and sister-in-law, the mudblood and stupid Pothead were always with him. He couldn't see Ronnie and keep his promise.

It was imperative that Draco saw him. The ritual magic he had performed on the boy was sensitive, and once it settled down, it would start to work. He really needed to be close to Ronald or it would get out of control.

He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't lose Ronald too. During the war, Draco had lost his father at Voldemort's hands when he failed to get the prophecy of the Boy Who Lived during his fifth year. His mother had died protecting him from a werewolf attack during the Final Battle. The Dark Lord had ordered Greyback to kill Draco as punishment for his mother when the man discovered she lied to him about Potter's death. Now, Ron was all that he loved that he had left. Hurting the boy that way had been the worst thing he had ever done, and as soon as he could get the boy out of there he would make up for it, but he couldn't lose him... Not him...

So, that's how he caught Daphne Greengrass in the library that Friday evening. He knew that the girl and the mudblood had been dating for some time, surely she knew something about Ronald.

He hated doing it. He really did. After the war he swore he would never use the unforgivables again, especially because he had seen firsthand how his father had tortured Ron when the golden trio had been brough to Malfoy Manor, but he really needed to know how the boy was. So, the most logical person to ask to would be Daphne. He knew that the mudblood would tell her everything.

"Imperio!" he whispered from behind a shelf, wand pointed at the blonde's head.

Lightness suddenly overwhelmed Daphne. What was she doing? Ah, yes. She raised from her seat, closed the book and started to walk towards the entrance of the library. She kept walking until someone stopped her and pushed her inside the girls' bathroom of the second floor.

"I want you to tell me all that you know about Ronald Weasley's attack." Draco commanded.

"They know that you are responsible for it. They know you used some kind of ritual magic. His eldest brother knows what the mark on his neck means and how you could make it, but he doesn't know its effects nor the way to break the curse or remove it. Ron woke up this afternoon and talked to his mother and my girlfriend. She told me that Ron wants to go home as soon as he is discharged. He doesn't want to stay in the castle any longer."

"And what about Potter? Did Ron want to see him?"

"No. As far as I know, he apologized to Hermione for the way he treated them both, but she refused it on behalf of Ronald. She told him that if he wanted the boy to forgive him, he would have to apologize to him personally. That's what he's been trying to do since before the exams, but Ron thinks Potter is planning some kind of prank with his twin brothers to pull on him, that's why Ron avoids him at all costs."

Daphne stood there with glassy, unfocused eyes while Draco thought of what he just heard. He had to be quick if he wanted to get to Ronald before he left the hospital wing...

"Do they plan to charge me for Ron's attack?"

"I don't know. Hermione hasn't mentioned anything regarding that."

Draco lifted the curse and obliviated the girl, sending her back to the library. He walked as fast as he could to his room, retrieved the portkeys and a shrunken travel bag with all the necessary supplies for them to travel. He made it to the infirmary, carefully peeking inside to plan his moves.

It was packed with redheads, a mudblood and a Scarhead. Pomfrey and McGonagall were nowhere to be seen. Perfect. He could stun them all and quickly take Ron out of there. It was almost nine so he should be sleeping now. This would be easy.

He disillusioned himself and silently entered the place. Nearing the family gathered at one side of the curtain he could hear their hushed voices speaking.

He approached a bit more and could see that Mrs. Weasley was holding a piece of parchment. "He should wake up anytime now. Poppy said that he is good to go. I'll take him home and talk to him... Maybe he would want to see you after I tell him that you've been worried for him..." she smiled softly at them and they could only sigh.

Perfect. So Ron could travel. It was now or never.

Unfortunately, he moved and almost pushed Hermione to the floor. "Who's there?!" she shouted. Her wand was raised, unknowingly, pointed towards Draco.

The wand was only millimeters away from his nose and he was trapped between it and a bed. If he moved, he would make noise and discover his location.

Harry dragged her a bit back and they all gasped. Draco could feel his spells wearing off and everyone raised their wands at the same time.

Someone fired a nasty yellow spell at him and he barely had time to raise a shield. He kept his shield raised as more spells were being fired at him from the same place. It was the twins, the rest of the Weasley brothers still pointing their wands. Potter and Granger were still glued to their places, effectively blocking his way to Ron's bed.

He had to think fast, so he started to move towards Ron's bed, casting spells of his own through his protection. Harry fired a particularly nasty spell at him that threw Draco off balance. The twins stopped their attack.

Harry came closer to Draco, grabbed him by the collar and punched him square in the face. Both boys were soon encased in a fight, punches and kicks flying everywhere. Bill and Charlie tried to separate them but Draco made a move that left the second oldest Weasley brother a bit flustered and ran towards Ron's bed again.

When he opened the curtains, only a mess of tangled sheets was left. He turned to look at the others present and noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were missing and Ginny and Percy were coming through the doors of the infirmary, Madame Pomfrey, McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebott following close behind.

The Auror immediately fired a body binding spell at him but he avoided it efficiently, casting a protection charm around him. He pulled a silver coin from his robe pocket and in an instant he was gone.

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They had landed on the small living room. Ron was still sleepy and confused for the commotion, but didn't need to ask what happened. His mother had already told him, so, as slowly as he could, he tried to walk to his room, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He froze at the touch and then started to tremble a little. Somehow, his father's touch had triggered memories of that awful day.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you..." said Mr. Weasley a bit ashamed. "Here, give me your arm. I'll help you to your room." he smiled softly at Ron. He nodded softly and extended a shaky hand to his father. Molly watch the scene between father and son and a happy tear escaped her.

Once in his room, Ron made it to his bed and sat there, waiting for his father to do or say something.

Mr. Weasley looked so uncomfortable that Ron thought that the man would suddenly melt.

"Ron, um... I wanted to apologize to you..." the boy looked at his father with big blue eyes expectantly. "I know that I was an idiot. I should have supported you when you needed me the most and I was so lost... When you told me that... Well... About your preferences... I didn't know what to do. I never had a situation like this before so I didn't know how to approach it or even what to feel. It was wrong of me to be away from you, but it was unforgivable to let your brothers and sister treat you the way they did... I know that we hurt you in ways that I wished we never did... But I really want to fix things with you..." Mr. Weasley's voice trembled. He raised a hand and tried to wipe away the tears.

"When I saw you in that hospital bed, unconscious and broken... I thought that would never wake up again. That scared me like you have no idea. All I wanted to do was to hugh you and heal your wounds like I used to do when you were little... Remember?" Ron smiled a small strained smile. "And then Madame Pomfrey told us what that monster had done to you and I couldn't stand it. I was torn between staying there, near you to keep you company and going to look for that Malfoy boy and..." the man ran a hand tiredly through his hair.

"But the guilt... The guilt of seeing you there, unresponsive... It was overwhelming. You know... When Madame Pomfrey forbade us to touch you, we thought it was all because of that mark on your neck... But then the magic settled down and it was your mother who forbade us all from touching you... She didn't trust us near you... And knowing that it was all because of the way we treated you made me feel like someone had just ripped my heart out. I don't know what I'd do without you, Ronald... And I don't want to find out."

He looked the boy right in the eyes. "You are my baby boy, and I will support you from now on. I want you to know that I love you." he moved to come close to the boy and extended a hand to tangle it in his son's fiery red hair, but Ron moved away, trembling.

Mr. Weasley quickly removed his hand and looked down, hurt reflected in his eyes. "I accept your apology, and I forgive you... But don't expect me to run to you all of a sudden... You hurt me... It still hurts, and I need time to heal... Please... Understand..." whispered the boy.

"I do, son. I do. I love you." the man smiled sadly at Ron and a few seconds later left the room.

******************************************************************************

When Mr. Weasley came down, all his children, Harry and Hermione, McGonagall and Shacklebott had arrived.

"Draco Malfoy escaped. He was carrying a special portkey with him. I already sent a squad to raid Malfoy Manor, but right now there's nothing we can do." said the Auror.

"Well, I don't think he will dare to come here. The protections around the house were strengthened after the Death Eater attack and, well, you know we put a Fidelius charm too... All we need to do is keep Ron safe." Molly was still worried. Ron had told her about his relationship with that Malfoy boy. She had never liked her son dating him, but she thought that, if the boy loved her son, there could be nothing wrong with him. She never thought that this would happen...

"We still have to find a way to break the curse and remove the mark... I don't like it one bit. I'll ask the goblins if they know something about it. Fleur would want to help too, I'm sure..."

"I'll look for it in the library too... Daphne said that she could ask her father to see if they had any kind of book that might contain something about it and..."

"We'll help you look through the books of the library." Ginny's voice was a bit loud and strained... How she hated it when _her_ Hermione talked about that stupid blonde.

Hermione thought that Ginny was chastising her for involving someone that didn't belong to the family, so she looked away in shame and mumbled "She only wants to help... Sorry..."

"Oh Hermione, dear, I know she only wants to help, but I don't think it's a good idea to involve anyone else. It will be bad enough when the diaries start talking about it..." Mrs. Weasley gave her an apologetic smile which hermione returned.

"I know..." Hermione sighed. "I guess I should be starting on my research then... Headmistress, can I use the restricted section?"

"Of course, just make sure no one else follows you in there. If Mr. Potter and Miss weasley wish to accompany you, they will be granted access too, but only the three of you, understood?"

"Yes ma'am." said the three of them in unison.

"Then I'll let Madame Pince know. Also, no book from the restricted section is authorized to leave it, am I clear? As classes are almost over and taking on account that young Mr. Wesley's stability is in danger, you may spend as much time as you need in the library."

"Yes ma'am."

"Molly, Arthur, I'll help too. I will check the books in Albus' personal library. Any finding I should make, I'll inform you immediately."

"Thank you, Minerva."

"Do you think that Ronald would want to talk now? I have some questions for him about Mr. Malfoy's behavior."

"I don't think so. He looked really tired when I left him in his room... I'll talk to him tomorrow and let you know when he could see you..."

Brothers and sister looked at his father. Since when did he and Ron started to talk again?

"It's ok, Arthur. Tell him that I'll do my best to keep him away from the Wizengamot, but that he will most likely have to give us his memories from that day as his testimony."

"I'll tell him."

"Well, I should be going. I have to fill some reports and start the investigation properly."

"We have to leave too. Miss Weasley, Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, I'll be waiting for you in my office in half an hour. Molly, Arthur." the Headmistress and the Auror left through the floo.

"I'll go check on Ron. Ginny dear, why don't you make tea for everyone?"

"Yes mum..."

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Back in Hogwarts, Hermione quickly left the Headmistress' office and went to her rooms. She needed to start as soon as possible her research about the mark and a possible way to remove the curse.

Harry and Ginny only watched her go. Ginny, at this moment, was like boiling water inside a pressure sealed container. She knew that she had to talk to Hermione quickly or she would explode. She could feel the effects of her love already building... The madness was starting to manifest itself and she really didn't want to do anything else that could scare Hermione away... Again.

Harry somehow could sense it and told Ginny to follow him. They arrived some minutes later at the entrance of the brunette's rooms and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" her voice sounded muffled through the door.

"It's me, Harry. Could we talk for a minute?"

"I'm coming."

She unlocked the door and was surprised to see Ginny standing there instead of Harry. The expression of fear that adorned her face when she saw the redhead made Ginny act on instinct and she banged open the door when the brunette tried to close it again. Hermione ran to her room and closed the door in her face.

"Hermione! Open the door!" shouted the redhead.

"Go away!" the brunette shouted back. "I don't want to see you! You said that you didn't want to talk to me again and I've stayed as far away from you as I can! Please leave me alone..." fear and hurt filled her voice. Ginny could hear faint sobs through the wooden door and wanted nothing but bang it open and make everything right with her brunette, but Harry stopped her when he noticed that she had her wand pointed at it.

"Ginny, I think we should go... Sorry, Mione..." he dragged the redhead out and closed the door.

When they arrived to the common room they chose a couch and Harry erected privacy wards around them.

"What the hell were you thinking, banging the door open like that?! You scared her shitless!"

"I know!" she shouted. "But I can't control it! All I want is to have her, to be with her... I pushed her away myself and now this need to make things right is consuming me! Every time I see her with Greengrass, every time she mentions that girl my blood boils! I want her to think only of me and to kiss only me and to run her hands through my hair! I want her to smile at me like she smiles at her... I want her to smile at me like she used to do... With love in her eyes... And I want her to whisper sweet nothings in my ear like she does with that... That... Girl...! I c-can’t stand it Harry. I-I need her!" somewhere in the middle of her rant, Ginny had started to cry. She slumped on the couch and Harry hugged her close.

He was sorry for his friend, but knew perfectly well that there was nothing he could do for her right now. Maybe Hermione wouldn't want to talk to him after he trapped her like that...

He sighed and ran a hand tiredly through his face.

"I know, Gin. That was exactly what I feel with Ron right now... I feel guilty and dirty knowing that I could have avoided what happened to him if I hadn't been an idiot... But right now the only thing we can do is focus on finding a way to break the curse in your brother. We'll figure out the rest ok?"

"O-ok... We owe it to him..."

"Indeed..."

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Hermione avoided both Ginny and Harry the rest of their school days as best as she could, mostly spending her time either with Daphne or in the library, looking for information. Bill had been sending her notes and he sent her his in order to cross information and share ideas. They hadn't had much success...

The last Hogsmeade weekend, Daphne asked her out. It was summer, so she wore a sundress and sandals. Daphne had chosen black denim jeans and an emerald green dress shirt. In Hermione's opinion, she would have been a very handsome boy... "Not that you don't look handsome... I mean... Beautiful!" she blushed. The blonde giggled.

"Thank you. You really look lovely too. Shall we go?" the blonde offered her arm and Hermione took it gladly.

They arrived to one of the new restaurants that had opened after the war and ordered some food. It was like the restaurant Ron had told her about when he had his first date with Malfoy, all posh and expensive, and she really had no idea what they were doing there. It was obvious that Daphne belonged here, but she didn't. Not that she didn't like it, the place was really beautiful and the food tasted like the Gods prepared it themselves... It was just that it felt wrong to be here with Daphne, she felt uncomfortable.

They talked through their meal and everything went smoothly until Daphne fell silent and Hermione started to worry.

"Hermione... There is something I need to tell you."

"What is it? Daphne are you alright? It's just that all of a sudden you got nervous and..."

"Yeah, I- I'm fine. Can we go somewhere where we can be alone?"

"Sure." Hermione's brow furrowed. Now she was starting to worry for real. Daphne was acting very strange... So shy when she was usually so extroverted when they were together...

They went to the park that was at the center of the villa, at the end of the main street. They took a seat and Daphne erected a privacy ward.

"Daphne?" asked Hermione a bit confused.

"What I wanted to tell you, Hermione, is that I've been speaking with my parents. They, as the purebloods they are, of course don't approve of our relationship, but regardless of their opinion and my upbringing, I find myself being in love with you." the brunette was gobsmacked. In all the time they'd been together, they had never confessed such feelings for each other, and hearing those words made her feel happy and scared... Mostly scared.

Daphne took one of her hands in hers and continued.

"I know that it's been almost five months since we started dating. I know it's such a really short time but... You have my heart in your hands, you know that?" Hermione smiled, trying not to cry, and nodded. "And that's why I wanted to ask you something..." Daphne pulled a little black velvet box from her left pocket and opened it for the brunette to see. Hermione gasped, marveled at the contents of it. "This is a family heirloom. It belonged to my grandmother... My grandfather gave it to her when they got engaged." Hermione turned to look the blonde in the eyes, her own wide open. "Hermione Granger... Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" she extended the little box and placed it in the brunette's smaller hand.

Hermione was speechless... Of all the things she expected her girlfriend to do, this was certainly not one of them! She felt something braking inside of her. She felt her chest tighten and the despicable need to cry appeared again... "Daphne I..."

"You don't have to give me an answer right away... I want you to think about it and decide. I love you, Hermione. And regardless of your answer I will still love you. You are the first one to see me as I truly am and I will always be thankful for that." the blonde smiled softly at her. "Please... Promise me that you'll at least think about it?"

Hermione returned the smile. "I promise I'll do." she placed a soft kiss in Daphne's cheek and extended her hand to give the box back.

"Keep it... Until you decide..." Daphne grabbed her other hand and, as Hermione saved the box in her bag, they started to walk towards the castle.

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Daphne accompanied her to the library. She had been ashamed to tell her girlfriend that Ron's parents didn’t want more people involved in what had happened to their son. Fortunately, she had understood but regardless, offered Hermione her help should she need it. The blonde had been an angel to her and she was really thankful for that.

When Hermione was done researching for the night, she decided to go to her rooms. She didn't noticed that she was being followed and somewhere between the third and fourth floor, she was dragged to an abandoned classroom.

"What the hell!" she shouted angrily. Harry got his wand ready in case the brunette decided to hex him and then took off his invisibility cloak.

"Bloody hell Harry! You scared me to death!"

"You can't marry her." said Harry bluntly.

"W-what? How do you know?"

"You can't marry Greengrass. You'll destroy Ginny."

"What I do or not with my life is my decision, Harry, not yours. If I want to marry MY girlfriend, I'll do it. She loves me and I know she can make me happy! Besides, what does Ginny have to do with this?!"

"Ginny loves you, you fool! She has been depressed ever since you started dating Daphne, she is going mad thinking that she will never have a chance with you!"

"She loves me you say... She loves me! Hah! I don't believe a single word you say! If she truly loved me she would have never slapped me in the face in front of a lot of people! She would have never taunted me for being gay! She would have never tried to kill me in an almost frozen pond! She didn't even try to help me get out! She ran away! She loves me you say..." Hermione lost her temper. It was the first time she shouted like that to Harry, but she really needed him to understand.

"She didn't know what she was doing! She... And I... We were both stupid and I accepted that we hurt you and Ron a lot but..."

"You hurt us? A lot... Yeah you did. But neither Ron nor you have anything to do with me and Ginny! She humiliated me! I gave her my heart in a silver plate and she took it and ripped it into pieces and spat on it and threw it away! Why shouldn't I marry a girl who loves me?! Why shouldn't I be with a woman that I know will never treat me the way she did! That I know I can give my heart to without fearing for it to be broken beyond repair?!"

"BECAUSE YOU ARE HER DESTINED ONE!"

Harry couldn't stand it anymore. The last three weeks Ginny had been deteriorating. Sometimes she disappeared from the common room and Harry had found her either following Daphne and Hermione or watching the brunette from afar when she was researching in the library. The redhead had started to skip meals and classes, so he decided to use a tracking charm on her.

Once he found her sitting outside the brunette's room's door, leaning on a wall half asleep. He had to drag her out of there by force because she didn't want Daphne to sneak in the night and 'assault' Hermione.

Today, Ginny had followed them to Hogsmeade. She had promised Harry that she wouldn't do it. He knew that she couldn't avoid it so he caught her sneaking out through the secret passage that led to Honeydukes and decided to go with her. When they spotted the blonde and the brunette, they followed them to the park, and when Ginny caught up what they were doing, she didn't stay to watch and decipher what Hermione's answer would be.

Ginny was so devastated, so lost in her pain that she ran not seeing where she was going. She barely avoided being crushed by the Whomping Willow thanks to Harry.

"Y-you're lying..." Hermione whispered. She had blanched at the news. "I'm not... I can't be..."

"It's true..." a third voice, barely audible said. Hermione turned to look at the door and leaning on the frame, as if she was trusting it with her life, there was Ginny.

Her face was devoid of color, her lips were chapped and her eyes looked red and puffy. Her cheeks were irritated from all the salt of her tears.

Ginny walked in slowly, as if any abrupt movement could scare Hermione away. When she was close enough, she extended her arm, trying to touch Hermione's own. The brunette snapped out of her stupor and jerked away as if she'd been burnt by the touch.

"Don't... Don't touch me..." whispered Hermione, tears striking her face. "Why can't you let me be happy? It's not fair... When I loved you, you pushed me away and... Now that I can have someone to love me... You come... And take it all away..." Hermione's voice quivered with anger and hurt. She didn't want to feel miserable any longer... Why was it always her whose heart had to be broken time and time again?

Ginny tried to touch her again and Hermione ran to the door. "How much do I need to suffer for you to be happy?" she smacked the door behind her, leaving a crumbling Ginny trying to hold herself together.

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Since he came home, Ron had been acting a bit weird. Although he had already forgiven his father and brothers, he didn't let any of them come close to him. If he thought that they were too close, he would slip into a panic attack and only his mother could snap him out of it.

Bill had informed Hermione of this development, and she had been searching symptoms like that for a week already without results.

It was graduation day and Harry and Ginny were supposed to come to the Burrow together, while Hermione would go to a short vacation to Australia to spend some time with her parents.

When the redhead and the green-eyed boy stepped inside the Burrow, Mr. Weasley following in tow, Ron, who had been sitting on a couch trying to read a magazine, dropped it and faster than a Firebolt disappeared to his room.

Harry was glad to see him, but that happiness suddenly evaporated as he saw the look of fear in Ron's eyes.

"Harry! Ginny! I'm so happy that you're finally home!" the woman hugged them both and sent them upstairs to unpack. Harry, a bit put off by Ron's reaction, asked Mrs. Weasley where would he be staying and she sent him back to Percy's room.

When Ginny and Harry were both done unpacking, Mrs. Weasley called them to have lunch. Ron hadn't come down since they arrived home, and he wanted to see him so bad.

"Mrs. Weasley?"

"Yes dear?"

"Um... Is Ron coming down?" he asked a bit worried.

"Sorry dear, but I don't think so. He..." she sighed, picking a knife and starting to cut a cucumber. "He's been acting strange lately... Bill says that it's due to the mark but none of us have found anything relevant about it."

Harry's hopes deflated. "I know... Ginny and I were helping Hermione on the library at Hogwarts, but all we found was that it was ancient and dark..."

Ginny was lost to the conversation. She could only think of Hermione. The day before, in the ceremony, she had seen Greengrass approach the brunette. She had an idea of what they were going to talk when they disappeared from view. She had wanted to follow them, but Harry had stopped her.

This morning, Hermione had told Harry that she wasn't coming to the Burrow, instead, she was going to travel to Australia to see her parents and she would come back in a month. She didn't believe a single word of it... Probably her brunette was in Greengrass Manor meeting her future parents-in-law...

"Ginny? Are you ok dear?"

"Oh?" Harry shook her out of her reverie and her mother gave her a worried look.

"Sorry... Yeah... I'm fine... I'll be in my room..."

Both Mrs. Weasley and Harry looked at each other in confusion and winced when they heard a door smack shut.

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Ron's condition worsened each passing day. As Mrs. Weasley said, the boy didn't come out of his room the rest of the day of Harry and Ginny's arrival, and when it was time to eat, either Fleur or Mrs. Weasley delivered his meals at his door.

By the second week, Harry was desperate. He hadn't seen Ron except for once in the orchard. He was walking towards the pond with the twins when he spotted the redhead.

Ron was sitting on a log trying to feed the chickens. Harry moved towards him and the twins tried to stop him.

"I really need to talk to him Fred. I know he needs me as much as I need him... I couldn't apologize to him properly and now I want to make things right..."

"Listen, Harry... We know that you mean no harm for Ron but..." the twins looked at each other with uncertainty in their eyes. Harry worried and looked back at Ron, then at the twins again. " Mum says that he still has nightmares about that night." continued George.

"Since Ron came home, mum put a silencing charm in his room. She has a special alarm spell on him to tell her when he wakes up or where he is..."

"Last night we followed her. She went to Ron's room and what we saw there made us sick to our stomachs..."

"He was screaming for someone to stop... We think it was Malfoy... When mum entered and woke him up, he clung to her like a lifeline..."

"He saw us... He started to mutter something in mum's ear and she made us leave... When she could finally pacify him..."

"She told us that he couldn't recognize us... He thought that one of us was Malfoy and the other was you..."

"He thought that we were going to hurt him... Mum forbade us to go anywhere near him... We don't know if it has to do with the mark or if he was still confused from his nightmare..."

"Bill will come in the afternoon to check on him. Hermione hasn't found anything yet... We have tried searching in the Ministry's libraries but there's nothing..."

"The goblins don't deal with curses like that often so they don't know what it is..."

The twins were desperate at this point. They looked utterly helpless and Harry didn't know what to think. To know that Ron still had nightmares... And to know that he thought that _he, Harry_ , could hurt him like that bastard did...

"I need to try..." Harry whispered, and so very slowly made his way to where Ron was.

The boy was still seated in the log, mindlessly throwing crumbs of bread to the chickens and other birds that dared to approach. Ron didn't even feel that someone was near him until he saw a shadow grow taller behind him. He shivered.

Slowly, Ron turned around, and when he saw Harry's hand steadily reaching out for him, he stood up abruptly, letting the food drop from his hands and ran. Ran as fast as his slender long legs allowed him, not once looking back.

Harry stood there, frozen by the look of terror on that lovely, freckled face. He lost sight of the redhead when he was halfway gone through the orchard and was only snapped out of his daze when the twins ran past him trying to catch their brother.

"Harry! Bring Mum or Fleur! Only they can touch him! We'll try to get to him before he can hurt himself..." shouted Fred.

Harry ran back to the house and fortunately Bill and Fleur had arrived. He explained what happened as fast as he could, but Fleur didn't stop to listen. She gave Victoire to her father and ran out of the house, summoning a broom from the shed and going after the boys.

"Harry please, stay here, take care of Vicky and when mum arrives tell her what happened... I'll be back."

"Bill I swear! I didn't mean to scare him!" said Harry almost crying.

"I know Harry, but..." Bill sighed and offered Harry an apologetic, sad smile. "I have some things to explain to all of you. Looks like Hermione found something in Australia that might help... Or at least clear some things out... I'll be back..." he kissed his daughter's forehead and followed in his wife's footsteps.

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Three hours later found everyone congregated out of Ron's room, Bill and Mrs. Weasley the only ones inside with him.

The twins found him at the edge of the wards unconscious. He looked as if he'd been attacked, but they couldn't find anything that could have caused the damage around. George tried to touch him but was repelled by some kind of protection.

When Bill arrived, he manipulated Ron's body and checked his neck. The mark was glowing red, as if it had been made with fire, and the boy's features were contorted in pain.

"Hermione sent me the copy of a book she found in the Australian Ministry's Library. It looks like this particular type of magic was designed to enslave people." Mrs. Weasley gasped and turned to look at her youngest son worriedly.

"I couldn't find the specific ritual for this mark, or the mark itself, but the book talks about granting loyalty to the performer of the mark... Something akin to obsessive devotion. In the Medieval times, wizard landlords used to perform this dark ritual magic to avoid that their muggle slaves betrayed them..." Bill turned to look at his family and Harry when he was finished speaking, ushering them out of Ron's room. Only his mother stayed behind to keep an eye on her boy.

"Harry... I would like to ask you a favor..." Harry nodded for him to continue. "I know that the Blacks have lots of books about the Dark Arts... Now that we know what the purpose of the mark on Ron's neck is... I'd like to start searching there... If it's ok with you..."

"Of course! I wonder why we didn't think of looking there first... But yeah! As soon as we can find something and bring my Ron back to normal... The entire Black library is at your disposal."

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Two weeks passed since the incident and Hermione was due to arrive soon. Bill had offered to pick her up at the airport and bring her back to the Burrow, where Ron would be waiting for her.

"So, how has he been? I sent him a letter a week ago telling him that I'd be back today and he never answered..."

"He's been... Worse. He has nightmares almost every night. We didn't know about them until two weeks ago... Mum used a silencing charm in his room so that he wouldn't wake up the full house but... The twins still noticed. George told me that he hadn't seen them standing at the door but after mum woke him up... He looked at them and confused them with Malfoy and Harry..."

"Oh my god! But he recognizes them when he's conscious, doesn't he?"

"Sometimes... The truth is that he lives scared shitless of Harry. Ron can't see him without freaking out... Mum has forbidden everyone that is not Fleur, you or me to come near him. We have decided to stay at the Burrow until we find a way to break this... Thing... Victoire seems to have a calming effect on him. Sometimes Andromeda comes by and brings Teddy along to help keep Ron distracted but it's not enough..."

"I know... You told me that Harry let you use the Black Library, maybe we should go there..."

"Yes, Harry, Ginny and the twins have been helping with the books but there are still a lot to go through." At hearing Ginny's name, Hermione's eyes dropped. Bill noticed that and hugged her.

"Ginny mentioned something about you being her destined one..."

"Bill, I don't really want to talk about it... It's difficult."

Bill nodded and apparated them both to the edge of the wards at the Burrow.

When she stepped inside the house, Mrs. Weasley was the one to welcome her, enveloping her in one of her famous hugs. "Hermione, dear! It's nice to have you here! How are your parents?"

"They're fine. They are under the protection of the Australian Ministry. Dad says it's not necessary but with the threat of Malfoy and some random Death Eaters still on the run, one can never be too sure."

"I know dear. Come, come. I'm sure Ronald will want to see you, but first you must eat something. You should be hungry after a long trip."

After eating everything that Mrs. Weasley gave her, she loaded an extra plate and asked her to bring it to Ron.

"He's not been good. Sometimes he confuses the twins with that... Malfoy boy and Harry... Even when he's conscious. Whenever he sees Harry, he enters in a panic attack and every time is more difficult to snap him out of them... Harry decided to move to Grimmauld Place until we sort things out. He's well taken care of. Andromeda and Teddy moved in with him and he has Kreacher... Oh Merlin, Hermione... What am I going to do if there's no way to bring him back?!"

Mrs. Weasley was devastated. It was obvious that she only put a strong front because of Ron, but it was too much for her.

Hermione hugged her and reassured that everything would end up fine, then went upstairs to meet her best friend once again.

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"Hey... How have you been?" The brunette entered the room after knocking softly on the door. She put the tray on the desk and came closer to the bed where the redhead was laying.

"M-Mione?" croaked Ron. He turned around and when he saw his best friend, all his demeanor changed. His eyes lit up, his smile was genuine and his shoulders were less crouched. He scrambled on the bed and crawled to the girl like a baby to his mother. She received him with open arms and him as tight as she could.

"I missed you so much! You don't know how much I've been needing you, Mione..."

"I missed you too Ron. I wanted to cancel my trip to Australia, but I hadn't seen my parents in a long time... Also, I think I found something that might help us to find a way to break the curse."

Ron's gaze dropped. "No offence, Mione, but I've already lost hope... This thing... Whatever Malfoy did to me... It's getting to me fast. Every time I'm near the twins all I can see is Harry and Malfoy in their places... Mocking me. I can see the disgust and hate and anger in Fake Harry's eyes, and lust and evil and some kind of sick obsession in Fake Malfoy's..." Hermione smiled sadly at him and they positioned themselves so that Ron's head was now on the brunette's lap.

"Whenever I see Harry... The real Harry... It's as if some kind of burning steel stake made its way through my heart. It hurts physically... I can't be near him, Mione. I... I think that I'm scared of him..." he looked her in the eye, seriousness etched to his face.

"Can I tell you something? I don't want mum to know... I don't know if it's even possible, but I don't want her to worry even more..." Hermione nodded, trying her best not to show her panic. If what Ronald was about to tell her was anything as similar as what she had found in Australia, she had no idea what she was going to do...

"I... I can feel my love for Harry fading... It's as if this curse was killing it... Poisoning it. Sometimes I catch myself thinking horrible things about Harry... Sometimes, in my nightmares, Harry is the one doing all those things to me... He's the one torturing me... Raping me... And Draco Malfoy is the one who comes and saves me. Sometimes I can feel Malfoy close to me, whispering reassuring words in my ear and, when I turn around, he's gone... I don't know what's happening to me, Mione, but it scares me shitless... All I know is that when my love for Harry is finally dead, I'll be dead too. I can feel myself dying... I feel sick, like that time in sixth year when I was poisoned... But the effect of this curse is a hundred times slower and a thousand times more painful..."

Hermione paled. It was exactly what she didn't want to happen. Ron was deteriorating, faster than she expected.

She combed the red hair with her fingers, massaging her friend's scalp and tried not to cry. "I won't tell your mum. You know you can trust me, right?" she smiled sadly at him and he smiled back.

"Right now, you and mum are the only ones who I can trust... Did I mention that dad and my brothers apologized to me? Even the twins when I first arrived home... Ginny talked to me and explained everything when she came back... Even... Well..." he didn't dare to finish that sentence, but before the brunette could speak, he continued.

"I forgave them all but I can't stand being near them... I haven't spoken to Harry at all and the only ones I allow close to me are Fleur, little Victoire and Teddy when he comes to visit... And you of course..."

She kept combing her fingers through his hair and stopped only when Ron felt strong enough to stand up and eat what she had brought.

"Mione? Are you ok?" Ron asked. "Listen... Um... I don't blame you if you decide to reject Ginny, but I really think you need to tell her... She's been a bit weird as of late... Yesterday she was frantic helping mum clean the house because Bill told her he was going to bring you home. At least don't bring her hopes up..." he gave her a sad smile and returned to his meal. Hermione nodded to herself and exited the room, she had a lot of things to unpack.

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Mrs. Weasley, as the kind woman she was, decided that she could stay in Charlie's bedroom.

After what happened to Ron, he decided to go back to Romania and keep an ear open in case he heard something about Malfoy. Charlie also had friends in other countries, and had given them word of the happenings of the last months. They were understanding, fortunately, and decided to help him bring Malfoy to justice in case they found him.

One of his friends from Hogwarts worked at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, in the office of International Issues in France. She had met Ronald when he was a little boy and had taken affection for the boy, so, when her best friend had told her of his problem, she had mobilized the whole Department, with no results until now.

Hermione was concerned about Malfoy's location. She hadn't told Bill any of this because she didn't think the curse would progress this far. The nightmares Ron had been having only meant that Malfoy was closer than they thought, and if he found Ron, the curse would consume him even faster.

The next day she went to Grimmauld Place. Mr. Weasley told her that Bill and his family, Harry and Ginny had been living there in order to use all the time available looking for information.

When she arrived, there were a lot of books scattered around the drawing room. Bill and Fleur were in the middle of the mess, each one with a book in hand.

"Hi there! Have you found something?" the couple lifted their eyes from their research and looked at her. A bit confused from the distraction, Fleur stared at her and then stood up to welcome her.

"Mione dear! How 'ave you been?! It's been a lot of time!" the blonde woman hugged her and led her to a sofa, banishing the books on it to the library. It was then that she noticed the little bundle in Bill's lap. Victoire was fast asleep, head resting in her father's legs.

"I'm fine, thank you. Have you found something about it?"

"No. Harry and Ginny have been helping with the books of the library. These are the ones we found in the Black and Potter vaults at Gringotts..." Bill frowned. "For some reason, the Potters have more books regarding Dark Magic than the Black and Hogwarts libraries together... Anyway, I tried with these on ancient family rituals, but I found nothing. We still have to go over the ones in the other rooms."

Hermione sighed and turned to look around her once more.

"I should start checking the other books then. Can you show them to me?" she gave a sideways glance towards Fleur and Bill understood her intentions.

"Fine, follow me."

They walked to a room down the corridor. It was smaller than the drawing room but it still looked as packed with books as it. Hermione erected some privacy wards and Bill locked the door in case someone came looking for them.

"What is it?" he asked. Hermione sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"After I sent you the letter with my findings, I researched a bit more... According to the ancient magic of the Australian tribes, only the leader was allowed the dark powers. Those dark powers were meant to be used to tie members of the tribe together..."

"Like that enslavement spell you found?"

"Yes, something like that, but this was a variation of the spell... This one was used to secure marriages and the continuation of the bloodlines."

"What do you mean? Ron is now married to Malfoy?" Bill's horror showed completely. He would not let his brother at the mercy of that Death Eater scum.

"No! What I mean is that the spell was usually casted after the wedding, only when the bride was unwilling to marry the groom. The reason why it's so dark is because for it to work, the marriage has to be consummated within minutes of the spell being casted. That usually meant that the wife was raped by her husband - it involves violence." The redhead was about to speak, but a glance from Hermione made him stop and listen to what she was going to say.

"After the... Consummation, the wife experimented some changes. The most importan one was that, for example, if she was in love of someone that wasn't her husband, that love was likely poisoned and turned into hate or killed... Then, all the poor woman could feel was some kind of obssesive devotion... Sick love for her husband... That's how the marriage survived and the bloodlines were secure. I found that this curse was used in the Medieval Era amongst the pureblood families of the biggest wizarding societies... Australian, French, Brittish... The Malfoy family's origin is France. That might explain why Malfoy knew it..."

"Wait a second... You said that the love could be... Poisoned... Or killed?"

"Yes... And I'm afraid that Ron is beginning to show the signs... He confessed to me that in his nightmares, it is Harry who rapes him and Malfoy comes to the rescue... He fears the twins because he, even consciously, confuses them with Harry and Draco... He told me that he feels that his love for Harry is starting to change... I also found that the effects of the spell work faster when the cursed is in close proximity to the target... Ron's change is occurring faster than I expected and he told me that his poisoned love is poisoning him too..."

"So Malfoy must be near the house... And if Ronald's love is dying... He is dying too..." the redhead whispered the last bit. It was imperative that they got Ron out of the Burrow. If Malfoy was anywhere near the house and somehow found a way to get to Ron, his brother's life would be lost within days...

"We need to find a way to break this damned thing!" he raked a hand through his hair.

"Until we find it the only option is to get Ron out of the Burrow. Get him as far away from Malfoy as we can. That might slow down the curse." Bill nodded. Maybe he could ask Fleur's family to keep an eye on Ron for some time.

"I'll inform Kingsley as soon as possible. He should be having a squad registering the grounds near the Burrow soon. I'll ask Fleur if maybe her parents can take Ron in for some time... We'll have to move him from time to time in case Malfoy escapes again..."

Hermione nodded and took one of the books around her. "I think we should move Ron now if Kingsley's going to chance a raid to the Burrow. Your parents might need to lower the wards to let them in... We can't risk him like that."

"Yes, I know... But he will surely refuse to come here..."

Hermione took two coins out of her purse and charmed them, then gave one to Bill. "Here, just think of something you want to tell me and your message will appear on both coins, same for me. Try it."

He felt a warm sensation coming from the coin and looked at it. _Thanks for caring so much for my brother_ was written on it. Hermione looked at it too and smiled. Bill felt the warm sensation once more and looked back at it. _He's like my brother too_ , she had written, and they smiled at each other again.

"I'll go talk to Harry and ask him if he can let Ron come here. I'll send you a message when I'm back."

"Sure. I should probably explain Fleur what is going to happen... Then I'll go to the ministry." Hermione nodded and left the room.

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As soon as Hermione told him what was happening to Ronald, Harry bolted to the floo. He gave her permission to do as she wanted to make the house comfortable for his beloved redhead. When he arrived at the Burrow, he immediately asked Mrs. Weasley to take her son to Grimmauld Place, explaining as carefully as he could what was going to happen. She bolted to the stairs to get her baby boy as soon as the name of her son's attacker left Harry's mouth and came back with a bag in one hand and the boy's arm nearly tripping in the other.

Ron didn't even have time to look at the green-eyed boy who was anxiously looking at him, because he was shoved into the hearth and a moment later he fell gracelessly in the drawing room of the old, dark house.

Some minutes after Mrs. Weasley had left the house, Bill, Kingsley, Mr. Weasley and two aurors more stepped through the floo.

They all nodded to each other silently and Mr. Weasley lowered the wards around the house grounds. Everyone except Mr. Weasley put a disillusionment spell on themselves and as if they had called for him, Malfoy stepped through the front door shouting Ron's name.

"What do you want here, Malfoy? You're not welcome in this house." said Mr. Weasley a bit too calm.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes and replied. "I've come for what's mine. Where's Ronald?"

"He won't go anywhere with you, boy. What did you do to my son?"

Arthur's patience, as much as it was, was expiring quickly.

"I only fulfilled a promise I made to him. He told me that he wished he could forget Potter and love me as I deserved. I promised to help him amd that's what I did! Now where is MY Ronald?" Malfoy's patience was running short too. If that man denied him what he wanted, then he would have to take it by force.

"Ronald!" Draco shouted again.

"He's not here, boy." The blonde looked at him in confusion, then, sprinted to the stairs.

He was halfway to the first floor when he felt something tugging at his left forearm. Clutching it with his right hand, he stumbled to seat on the steps and fear invaded him. He was reminded of the way the Dark Lord punished him when he failed to kill Dumbledore.

"You can't escape now, Malfoy." that voice... He knew that voice... "The wards around the house were erected again. You walked right into the trap." Bill Weasley appeared right in front of him.

"W-what is this? Why... It hurts?" he gasped in pain when he felt invisible fingers pressing into his sensitive skin.

Harry revealed himself. Pulling forcefully at the blonde's arm, he dragged him to the main level and shoved him to a chair, pointing his wand at the boy and securing ropes around him.

"This, Malfoy, is the Weasley-patented Anti-Death-Eater ward. One of my most brilliant creations, may I add. Let me explain how it works." Bill rounded him once, twice, taking into his surroundings. The others had their wands at the ready.

"After your despicable aunt attacked my family nearly three years ago, I came up with this brilliant idea. This spell works by blocking the entrance to whomever sporting the Dark Mark. Outside the ward, it will repeal anyone who tries to come in, like when someone punches you everywhere and you jump away... But when someone manages to come inside, it burns the mark. The pain is similar to that of the cruciatus curse, but after certain time of exposure, the pain intensifies, making the blood vessels explode. That pain expands through the body until it reaches the most important organs... Your heart, your brain, your stomach, for example. Can you imagine, feeling the pain on your veins and your gastric juices working together to kill you?" Malfoy was staring at him in horror, while Bill looked at him with mirth in his eyes.

"You have half an hour to tell me how to break the curse on my brother or you'll die. Your choice, Malfoy."

"You can kill a Death Eater with what I assume is Dark Magic and you can't break a curse... You... The most acclaimed curse-breaker in Britain?" Malfoy laughed through a sneer despite his pain.

Bill only smirked. "Hermione has the whole Black and Potter libraries at her disposal. Don't think that we won't find a way to break it, but look at the situation this way... If you tell us how to do it, you'll be saved from a lifetime in Azkaban..."

Malfoy looked at Kingsley and he only shrugged. "If Ron decides not to press charges, you'll be given at least five years for deliberate use of Dark Magic and three more for violating your conditional freedom sentence."

All color faded from the boy's face. He had managed to avoid being imprisoned thanks to Harry Potter, when the boy declared in his favour. This time, he thought, it wouldn't be like that.

Draco turned to look at Harry and narrowed his eyes. Then smirked.

"Very well... Let's make this more interesting, shall we?" said the blonde through gritted teeth. "Bring Ronald, and let him decide who he wants to be with... Potter or me..."

"Never!" shouted Harry. Bill stopped him from raising his wand at Malfoy and ordered him to continue.

"If Ron chooses Saint Potty, I'll tell you how to break the curse and leave him alone. I'll disappear from his life. No more tricks to pull, no more trying to make him love me. Ron will be the only one to decide what my punishment will be and I'll accept it... But if he chooses me..."

Something sparked in those gray eyes and Harry couldn't stop himself, he grabbed Malfoy by the collar and angrily hissed at him "He will NEVER choose you! He will NEVER love you..."

"Harry!" shouted Kingsley, gripping the boy's wand arm and dragging him back to his place. Malfoy smirked and continued.

"If he chooses me... I'll take him with me and you'll ask no questions. You'll have to renounce to him and leave us alone. No more seeking him out. No more trying to take him away from me. He will be mine and only mine. Understood, Potter?"

Harry's nostrils were flaring in a sign of unleashed rage. How he wanted to skin that bastard alive and make him feel at least a tiny bit of the pain Ron suffered that night. How he wished he could rip his heart and squash it until he felt what Harry would feel if Ron didn't choose him. How he wanted to scare that stupid Death Eater until he shitted his pants in fear... Fear that Harry felt at the thought of losing Ron forever...

Bill gripped his shoulder, effectively snapping him out of his thoughts. He looked the older Weasley brother in the eyes and both followed Mr. Weasley out of the house.

Father and son looked at each other and Harry noted that they reached a silent agreement. Mr. Weasley walked towards the entrance again but before he could reach it, Harry snapped.

"You can't do it!" Bill, as fast as always, erected a privacy ward around them. "You just can't give Ron up like that! He's mad! If Ron chooses him... Only heaven knows what Malfoy will do to him!"

"We know, Harry. But if we keep up like this... At this rate Ron will be dead before anyone of us can find a way to break the curse... It's poisoning what's good in him and when that thing consumes him completely... There will be no Ronald to play hero for, Harry..."

The green-eyed boy turned to look at Mr. Weasley with pleading eyes. "Sorry, Harry. But if this is the only chance I have to get my son back to normal, I'll risk it." Arthur lowered his eyes. "I'll go talk to your mother and inform Hermione of the situation."

Everyone stepped inside again amd with a fleeting look at the blonde, the oldest redhead man disappeared through the floo.

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Ron was seating in the floor with Victoire between his legs, trying to read a book about _Advanced Potions and their Darkest Uses_ when his mother came rushing into the room.

"Hermione, can I talk to you for a moment?" the woman, although breathlessly, managed to say with a tinge of worry and hope in her voice. This snapped the brunette out of her daze and hurried out the door.

There, in the kitchen, was Mr. Weasley looking quite troubled.

The parents of her best friend explained the situation as best as they could and she paled.

"A-are you sure there's no other way?"

"I wish there was. We're running out of time, Hermione, and... Well... I was expecting you to help us..."

"Of course!" the brunette nodded once again to reaffirm her statement and started to think of a way to tell Ron the news.

"What if Ron doesn't accept? Or denies to choose one of them?" she asked.

"That's why I want you to help me convince him... He practically only listens to you..." Mrs. Weasley was almost begging her. She looked at her and nodded again.

"Let me talk to him first..."

She went upstairs and found Fleur holding her sleeping daughter. Ron was laying in a couch reading the same book.

Hermione pointed the door silently to Fleur and the blonde nodded, closing it after her.

"Ron?" the redhead closed his book and waited for the brunette to continue. The business like tone of his friend made him aware all of a sudden.

Hermione was looking at her with worry in her eyes, though her facial expression made it hard to read... When had she become so proficient at acting?

"What is it?" prompted the redhead.

"Erm... Look... Remember the reason why we came back here?" the boy nodded again, sitting back on the couch.

"Did they capture Malfoy?" his eyes reflected hope, but behind it, Hermione could see the hurt... She wasn't sure if it was an effect of the curse or if the boy really felt that way.

"Yes... But... Well... The thing is..."

"Just say it... I'll understand... Whatever it is." she looked at him and after contemplating the best way to say it, she nodded.

"Malfoy was caught. It looks like he really was waiting for you to come out of the wards to take you away. Bill lowered them and Malfoy ran straight into the trap. He asked Bill to make a deal." Ron arched an eyebrow.

After Hermione finished explaining everything to her friend, Ron looked like he was going to be sick.

"I can't do it, Mione. W-what if... What if I try to go to Harry but at the end turn to Malfoy? You know him! He would have never made such a bet if he wasn't sure he was going to win..."

"I know! But I know that you are strong! I know that you can do this!" Hermione rushed to her friend's side and kneeled on the floor, taking his face in her hands.

"Please Ron, you have to do this! It's the only way... We're running out of time..."

"And what if I can't make it to Harry? Malfoy will take me and I'll be dead anyways!" he was crying now. "I don't want to die, Mione... I don't... I don't want to do this either..."

She gathered him in her arms and rocked him softly, whispering soft, calming words in his ear.

She ran her fingers through his hair and Ron moved to break the hug. He cleaned his tears and took one of her hands in his.

"Will you be holding my hand when I walk there? I don't want you to let go..."

She smiled softly at him.

"I will always be there for you, Ronald."

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The floo flared and everyone in the room stood still.

Ron's parents, all his brothers and sister, Harry... Malfoy... All were there. Looking at him. Expectantly.

He gripped Hermione's hand tighter and Kingsley asked everyone out except the redhead and the brunette. The auror turned to look at Bill and Arthur and nodded, glancing briefly towards Draco and Harry.

Mr. Weasley came back a few minutes later. "They're ready."

Somehow, his voice carried the fatality of when someone announces bad news. Ron started to tremble and, hesitating, followed his father outside.

Harry and Draco were both tied to stakes, each one at one different end of the garden. Ron saw them and started to shake. It took all of Hermione's strength to hold him in place.

"Ron... You'll have to choose..." said his mother in a soft voice. "I know you don't want to do this, but, please, my son... It's for your own good."

"And how am I supposed to choose between them? They hurt me in different ways but it still feels the same..."

The woman sighed and enveloped him in a hug. "Let your heart be your compass." she smiled softly at him and stepped aside. His hold on Hermione's hand strengthened and started to walk, dragging the brunette behind him.

Ron kept his eyes to the floor as he advanced. He started to feel things in his chest, as if something wanted to erupt from his ribcage. It was his heart, he noticed, that was beating as fast as if he'd run ten miles nonstop.

The redhead slowed his pace and closed his eyes, concentrating in that soft _thump thump_ of his vital organ. _"Let your heart be your compass."_ He stopped.

He felt as if his very heart had divided in two and was fighting a war of its own. Flashes of green and silver appeared in his mind's eye. He breathed deep three times, in the fourth, he started to walk. His eyes were still closed.

Hermione looked at him in confusion but never talked. She could feel his magic surrounding her and made her dizzy. When he started to walk again, she was blinded by a bright light and only followed wherever she was led. In her head she could hear the buzzing of her friend's magic wrestling some strange force. It was terrifying. It was beautiful.

The light suddenly started to be tainted by darkness. Spots of it here and there, but not quite engulfing it completely.

They stopped again and she closed her eyes. Ron dropped her hand and the dizziness went away.

When she opened her eyes again, she was greeted with what for her, was the best thing in the world.

Ron was crying in Harry's arms, both kneeling on the floor.

She turned around and saw Malfoy's face contort into a mask of utter sadness and defeat. He started to cry and to call Ron's name, begging him to go back to him. Begging him to forgive him... Begging him to love him.

Harry casted a privacy ward around them both to stop Malfoy's pleas to get to Ron, and it was then that she noticed that her redheaded best friend was shaking furiously in Harry's arms.

The other two aurors took Malfoy away and Kingsley stayed behind to talk to Arthur and Bill. Some seconds later he was gone too.

Harry was mumbling sweet nothings in Ron's ear while holding him like a lifeline. Ron lost count of how many times Harry had said "I'm sorry" and "Please forgive me".

As soon as Kingsley was gone, Harry lifted the charm and without warning, was pushed to the ground. He could only stare at Ron running as fast as he could to the house.

Hermione followed behind him, sending apologetic glances at everyone around her. When she entered the house, she heard a door slam shut and immediately knew where Ron was.

"Can I come in?" she asked. A muffled answer came to her and she opened the abused door. "Do you want to talk?"

He shook his head no. "Hold me, please..."

And so she did.

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Hermione closed the door to Ron's room as softly as possible. The redhead had fallen asleep between sobs. He had told her how his magic had guided him to Harry, and how, when the green-eyed boy had touched him, he felt the strongest fear ever.

He had told her how much he feared Harry, and when he kissed his forehead, images of his fake memories came flashing through.

The pain and broken heart of his friend made hers ache in understanding and sadness invaded her. She remembered that time when she told Ginny about her feelings, and how she felt afterwards when the rejection had hit her, literally, in the face.

Hermione was standing in the stairs of the second floor. She looked through the window and saw Ginny, as miserable as she looked, trying to comfort an angry, moping Harry.

She took a deep breath and, as if on cue, Ginny turned to look at the house and caught her eye. The redhead stared at her as if she was a lost explorer in the desert and Hermione an oasis, but, as soon as happiness lighted her eyes, her face contorted in disappointment and, Hermione swore, a lone tear escaped her.

She hated it. Hated feeling guilty about Ginny's grief. Hated feeling powerless of doing whatever she wanted. She hated that she broke the heart of the woman who gave it all to her without asking anything in return. But above all, she hated that she still loved the redheaded girl.

Hermione made it to the front door. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were still out there trying to figure out what to do. Fleur had come by, carrying little Victoire in her arms. Bill and Percy had gone to the Ministry to make Malfoy stick to his word, the rest were scattered around the garden.

She went to talk with Charlie, who was trying to pull a gnome from his right leg, but the damned thing was glued to it.

"Need some help?" she giggled.

"Maybe if you could stun it..." Hermione was trying to point her wand at the creature, but it suddenly stopped gnawing at Charlie's leg and horrified ran away. Charlie was about to laugh but when he saw who had made the thing run away changed his mind. Ginny gave him a pleading look from behind Hermione and the brunette turned to see who it was.

"I think I should let you talk..." he walked away faster than the gnome had gone.

Hermione tried to go away but Ginny grabbed her arm, effectively making her turn back.

"Let me go!" she snarled, trying to free herself from the strong grip.

"No! We need to talk. Please, Hermione, listen to me! I need to tell you that I'm..."

"That you what? That you're sorry? I don't believe in your words anymore Ginny, so save them." she succeeded this time in freeing her arm and walked towards the house, conscious of all the looks upon them both.

"I don't want you to marry Greengrass!" Ginny shouted after her. Hermione stopped dead in her tracks. Everyone had gone silent.

"I don't want you to marry Greengrass... Because I... I love you... I need you..." Those words went straight to Hermione's aching heart.

"I know I have no right to ask anything from you... After the way I treated you... But please... Don't marry her..." Ginny's voice reflected all her sadness. The brunette turned to look at her with fury in those usually warm, chocolate eyes. "I know I made a lot of huge mistakes, but..."

Hermione held a hand up. Her nostrils were flaring with barely contained anger.

"When I confessed my feelings to you, you mocked me, insulted me and slapped me across the face. When I came to visit last Christmas you threw me to an almost frozen pond and although I was nearly drowning you didn't help me out... I nearly died there." a gasp of horror, surely Mrs. Weasley's, broke the tense silence. "Then, I found this girl who showed me nothing but affection and love, you start to act as if it really mattered to you. She asked me to marry her. You know, I was starting to love her. And then you came and told me that I'm..." she sighed tiredly.

"That I'm your destined one. When she asked me to marry her, she gave me until graduation to give her an answer. She offered me the world, even if it was against everything she had been taught since she was little. Even if she was casted out of her family for loving a 'dirty lesbian mudblood' like me." Ginny looked down. That was one of the worst insults she had called Hermione.

"She was willing to give up her family, her name, her money for me... I really wanted to accept... I really wanted that opportunity at happiness that Life was giving me. But then I remembered." Hermione turned her head to look at Ron's window, then back at her. "I remembered how Ron was feeling without Harry by his side. I remembered those letters your mother wrote to me telling me how she thought Ron was going mad. I remembered... That if I rejected you, you could die..."

"Hermione..." whispered the redhead, trying to come closer to the brunette. Hermione only stepped back.

"I rejected Daphne's proposal not because I don't love her, nor because I love you, but because she deserves someone who can give her their whole heart. One who isn't damaged." Ginny's heart fell a little, but somehow she managed to feel happy. She wasn't going to lose Hermione after all.

"I accept being with you, because I don't want to carry your death upon my conscience. Don't expect me to throw myself at you swearing undying love because I don't feel like that anymore. You managed to destroy what I felt for you, you poisoned my love and my soul and smashed my heart until it was turned to dust... I don't know if I'll be able to forgive you, but I don't want any more guilt and self-loathing in me if something happens to you."

Those words cut deep in Ginny. She knew how much damage she had done, and was conscious that Hermione's decision was made based on her own judgment of what was easy and what was right. The brunette was sacrificing her own happiness to Give Ginny a chance, and she would not turn it down.

The redhead came closer to Hermione, grasping one of her hands in hers and smiled a watery, sad, but grateful smile. "I don't care if you can't love me like you used to now... I will try my best to make you forgive me and love me back, at least a little tiny bit... I... I don't care if you never love me back at all... I'm sure my love will be enough for the both of us." Ginny cupped her cheek and so very slowly closed the distance between her and Hermione's lips.

The brunette was caught in those sky-blue eyes, suddenly feeling light-headed, but when those thin, rose-like lips touched hers, she felt the weight of her bleeding heart and all the guilt for her ex-girlfriend’s own broken one fall down upon her shoulders. It was enough to snap her out of that dizziness and she abruptly pulled away from the redhead. "I'm sorry." she mumbled and fled towards the house and into Ron's room.

Ginny stood there, looking sadly at the retreating back of her loved one. Her mother approached and hugged her and she let go. She cried like she'd never cried before.

She was ecstatic that Hermione had refused to marry Greengrass, but was sad because she knew she herself was the cause of Hermione's grief. "I love her, mum, and she hates me... I hurt her so much... I don't know how but I promise that I'll make it better. Even if it takes me the whole life..." she said between sobs. Her mother only held her tighter.

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Harry was sitting on the couch in the Weasley's living room. He was staring into nothing, debating with himself whether should he go looking for Ron and talk things through or leaving him alone.

He was about to stand up when the twins seated one at each of his sides, taking his resolve away. They both swung an arm around his shoulders and looked at him expectantly.

"What?" said Harry, a bit wary.

"So... You and ickle Ronnikins?" said George wiggling his eyebrows in a suggestive manner. Harry blushed.

"Yeh... Though I don't know how I'll do to make him stop fearing me... Didn't you see how he was trembling?" The twins looked at each other.

"Well, I reckon that you'll have to break the curse for that... What you say Gred?"

"Totally agree Feorge... Bill and Percy came back. Looks like Malfoy has some decency after all... Kept his promise he did."

Harry stood as if impulsed by an elastic on his bum, he could see two red mops of hair walking towards the entrance of the house.

"So, what did he say?" asked Harry in a rush. Percy and Bill looked at each other and then lowered their gazes.

"I think it's better not to talk about it here... In case Ron comes down..."

"Is... Is it bad?" Asked Mrs. Weasley, wringing her hands together in worry.

"Bill..." called Fleur when neither her husband nor her brother-in-law answered.

"We can go to Grimmauld Place... There's no one there. Hermione is upstairs in Ron's room, she can look after him... I'll ask her..." Said Harry, disappearing through the stairs.

He came back a moment later. "She said she'll stay, but want us to inform her about it later... Just in case she has to prepare Ron for whatever has to happen..."

Percy nodded. "Right... Erm... Shall we?" said, pointing at the floo.

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"Ok, so... What happened with Malfoy?" asked Mr. Weasley.

Bill sighed and took a seat at the table of the kitchen. "When we arrived, the aurors had already taken him to the Wizengamot. Kingsley said that, despite the deal, Malfoy would have to serve eight years in Azkaban... Six, minimum if he behaves. He accepted the sentence and the Minister gave Ron three days to decide his punishment. He won't be able to come anywhere near Ron for the next ten years and... Well..." he looked at Percy and the man pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket. He extended it to his father.

"Malfoy gave us this." The usually composed Weasley raked a hand through his fiery locks, then, rearranged his glasses. "He said that for the ritual to work, it had to be performed before moonrise in the full moon..."

"Full moon?" what Percy said and Mr. Weasley's sudden trembling hands poked his interest and made him more anxious. "C-can I read?" he extended his hand and the older man gave him the parchment when he finished reading it.

It explained in full detail how the ritual to mark Ron was made. Harry felt his insides turn in disgust and anger. After all, that bastard still found amusing to humiliate Ron by retelling what he had done to the boy...

A few paragraphs later Harry found the explanation and meaning of the ritual, along with an apology to Ron and what Harry assumed was a love letter.

_"... The only way to break the curse, my love, is through the mating mark of a werewolf. Very few people know this, but their magic is the most ancient kind of power that still rules the world, for it comes from Mother Nature herself. Werewolves are her children, and she, through the light of the full moon, nurtures them. It makes them stronger and more powerful, physically and magically, than us, wizards and witches, only if they accept the gift they've been given._

_"You, as much as it pains me, have to mate with a werewolf before the first rays of moonlight touch his skin, and he has to bite you before his transformation is complete, otherwise he will turn you too._

_"I give up all the hope I ever harbored of sharing a life with the person I love the most in the world. I hope you find it in you to forgive all the damage I caused you and remember... A part of me will always love you, my dear Ronnie. Yours ever. DM."_

As he read, Harry paled. How dare that piece of shit say that he loves Ron still?!

Bill had explained everything to all of them and Mrs. Weasley was trying not to break down.

"First Malfoy, and now my boy will have to spend the rest of his life tied to some random werewolf? This isn't fair!"

"It won't be a random werewolf, Mrs. Weasley... I can assure you that." Harry's gaze was still lost in the words written by his enemy. Mrs. Weasley gasped in understanding.

"No, Harry. I won't allow it. We'll find another way... There has to be another way... Arthur!"

Everyone were still trying to process what Harry had just said, and when they reacted it was too late. They could hear the front door slamming shut.

The twins looked at each other and sighed. This was going to be a very long evening...

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A week had passed and no one knew absolutely nothing about Harry. Two days ago, Ron was due to render his testimony to the Wizengamot and, to everyone's surprise, the only thing he demanded from Malfoy was to seek psychological attention and to keep his word to stay away from him. The blonde asked if he read the letter but, as expected, the redhead shook his head no.

Bill had given Hermione the parchment with Malfoy's instructions, and told her about Harry's disappearance, and she vomited when she read the ritual that had to be performed. It wasn't that she had a thing against werewolves, because she really didn't. It was the fact that she was already emotionally drained and the worry for her friends was too great that the only outlet for her was that.

Ginny had been immediately by her side, holding her hair and vanishing the mess. When the brunette had finished, she looked like she was going to pass out, so the redhead lifted her and carried her to Charlie's room. She had been unpleasantly shocked when she gathered the girl in her arms, she was so thin and weighted almost nothing...

It was Tuesday morning. Since the trial, Ron had refused to go out of his room, his mother brought his meals to him but barely ate anything. He didn't talk to anyone. Not even Hermione.

Harry hadn't come back yet and Mrs. Weasley, aided by Kingsley and McGonagall, had performed several rituals to track him down, but nothing had worked.

Hermione and Fleur had taken over the rest of the books left in hopes that they would find another way to free Ron, but they hadn't succeeded yet. Both women seemed to be oblivious of the redheaded shadow always following Hermione around.

Ron was worsening by the minute. It was almost three weeks of Harry's disappearance and he started looking like a corpse. He was fed by force and what little he managed to eat was later thrown back in the toilet.

Hermione and Fleur had found nothing... Bill has already stopped looking. He thought that maybe the Ministry could give him access to the Malfoy library in hopes to find anything regarding his brother's condition, but the only thing he found was what Malfoy had already told them. Even when he found out that the curse was a special creation of the Malfoy line, hermione refused to give up.

Sometime around midnight, Hermione still skimmed through a book when the floo in front of her flared. Wild green flames nearly reached her.

She was so scared that she threw away the book and, in an attempt to escape the attacking fire, threw herself to the back of the couch and from her position she could see the flames erupting an obscured form.

Wand in hand, she crossed the distance between herself and the man. His clothes were all reduced to rags and covered in blood. She noticed that his hair was also matted by the dried substance, sticking it in all directions and tangling tiny branches and leaves in it. She poked the man and he grunted, only when she saw the broken glasses in one of the hands of the man did she knew who he was.

"MRS. WEASLEY!" shouted Hermione as loud as she could. In mere seconds someone was at her side, and to her surprise it was Ginny. The redhead had fallen asleep on the rug trying to read a book.

"What the... Ah! Nevermind. Here, help me carry him to the couch." they lifted the boy and placed him as carefully as they could on the cushions.

"I'll bring mum, try to find any open wounds... Be right back" mumbled Ginny trying not to trip over.

Hermione nodded and started to remove Harry's clothes.

"Oh Harry... Why?" she suppressed a sob when she peeled Harry's bloodied shirt off and saw the enormous wound across his throat and chest. She conjured a cloth and a bucket with warm water and started to clean him up, discovering what could only be a huge werewolf bite covering his right pectoral and part of his back. The flesh around it was torn and she swore she could see the muscles clench beneath it.

Mrs. Weasley appeared a moment later, shoeing her away and casting spells over the unconscious boy.

"Well... He's going to live. There's nothing we can do to tend the wounds... They'll have to heal for themselves... He's magically and physically drained."

"I'll bring him to his room." said Mr. Weasley, casting a guilty yet thankful look at the boy. Hermione caught his eye and he smiled at her sadly.

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It had been two days since Harry came back and he hadn't woken up yet. He was feverish and sometimes his wounds would bleed a lot if he moved too much thanks to the fever-induced nightmares.

Andromeda and Mrs. Weasley checked on him every hour, to see if he got any better, but not any kind of medicine seemed to work. His wounds were still open and the only thing that seemed to be at least a bit better was the cut on his throat and chest.

On the fourth day he woke up. He felt something tugging at his hair and then heard a muffled noise above his hair. Andromeda chose that moment to enter the room, she had been looking for Teddy for an hour now. He was supposed to be playing with the littlest Weasley but when she went to pick him for his afternoon nap, the little demon was gone.

"Good Merlin, Teddy! I told you not to bother Harry! He's delicate! Come here love, it's time for your nap." The little boy started to wail and Harry cringed. He let out a pitiful cry of pain when he suddenly felt the soreness and stiffness of his muscles.

"Harry, are you awake?" the green-eyed boy opened his eyes and tried to nod. He could still feel the foul taste of blood in his mouth, so he didn't dare to speak.

The woman gathered the little boy in her arms and started to walk to the door. "I'll call Molly, let me take Teddy to bed and I'll be back." She slowly closed the door and left.

Some minutes later, Molly Weasley appeared with a tray full of food and potions floating behind her.

"Harry dear, how are you feeling?" he shrugged a bit. "Dear Merlin, boy! You had us all worried about you... Here, drink this. It will take the soreness away."

He drank what he was given and felt much better. Even his throat didnt hurt that much anymore.

"Th-thank you..." he croaked out. "H-how's Ron?" Mrs. Weasley's cheery face changed completely at the mention of her son.

"Oh, Harry..." she sighed and tried, unsuccessfully, to keep her tears from falling.

"Is... Is he ok?" she gave him a sad smile.

"No... I don't think so... He's been... Since you left and Malfoy was taken away, he got worse. He secluded himself in the room he used to share with you and doesn't let anyone come in... Not even Hermione. Only Kreacher can go in and out of there and he's the only one who manages to get him to eat... But it's useless... He vomits it all after... We don't know what to do..."

After the third potion that she had shoved in his hand, he felt a whole lot better. His throat was fixed and he no longer felt in pain. "Mrs. Weasley... I have a favor to ask of you... It will be the full moon in two weeks and I'd like to... Well... Do the ritual then..."

"Harry, you don't have to... We'll find another way... Hermione hasn't given up..."

"Please listen to me!" Said Harry in a loud voice. "I know you don't think that I love Ron, but I do! I really do! I was stupid and pushed him away... But when I saw him all beaten and nearly taken away from me I couldn't stand it... I had to protect him... If I had been there for him none of this would have happened... But I learnt from my mistake and I did this because it's the only way I have to prove him that I love him! That I need him... He was the first boy my age who didn't look at me as if I was some kind of nasty trash..." Harry and begun to cry and was hardly trying to keep the tremble in his voice away. "Hell... He even offered me half of his sandwich when that was all he had to eat... He didn't even know who I was then... He offered me his friendship without hesitation... He offered me his family and his home even when you had neither room nor money to take anyone in... He stuck with me and loved me every time I despised myself... And I couldn't protect him when he needed me the most..." the woman couldn't contain herself anymore and fat tears found their way down her cheeks. Harry grasped her hands in his and smiled a tiny smile.

"Please... Help me make things better... If not for me... At least do it for him..." Mrs. Weasley dried her tears and nodded.

"Well... If you're going to spend the rest of your life with my son, I think it's time for you to start calling me mum... Or Molly... However you wish. Now, what is it that you need me to do?"

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"Will you tell me where you were those three weeks or will I have to know the truth by force?" Andromeda Tonks raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow and Harry swallowed. He knew he should have at least told the woman where he was going, but honestly, who expected _him_ to think before acting? "Teddy was more irritable without you the past full moon... I think he grew used to you holding him to sleep."

Harry felt guilty. He sighed and resigned himself to tell the truth. She deserved it, after all...

When he finished telling her the story, she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You know that what you did was utterly stupid... No one walks into werewolf territory uninvited and comes back alive... You could have been killed there..."

Harry looked down. He felt ashamed. She was right. What if he had been killed? Ron would have been condemned to follow him to the grave by that stupid curse and Teddy would have lost the only paternal figure he had... He would have been left alone just like him when he was a baby... Well, ok. Teddy had his grandmother, but she was old and her heart was fragile... Muggle medicine had saved her once but no one knew what would happen if there ever was a second one.

"I... I'm sorry, Andy... But I had to do it... Ron.."

"I know, boy. And that's why I am grateful that you are Teddy's godfather." she smiled at him. "If you were capable to put your life on the line for the man you love, I can only imagine what you'd do if Teddy was in danger..."

Harry was speechless. He certainly didn't expect that. The woman's smile turned to a full grin and she patted his knee. "Well, let me have a look at those wounds. They should have been healed by now."

Harry grinned back and pecked her on the cheek.

Andromeda was casting some spells to Harry's chest when he smelled something from behind his door. It was sweet, like cinnamon rolls. It immediately reminded him of that time in first year when he had stayed at Hogwarts because his relatives refused to take him on vacation with them. Ron had sent a letter to his mother explaining why he wanted to spend Christmas at Hogwarts and her answer had been two shoe size boxes of Mrs. Weasley's finest pastries. Harry remembered that Ron's favorite dessert were those, and as soon as Andromeda was finished, he fled the room. His wounds were almost healed but he could still feel a bit of tenderness in his muscles.

When he arrived to the dining room, the smell intensified. He entered with his eyes closed, sniffing the scent in the air and blindly following it. Then, he heard a chair being pushed against the floor and the screeching noise made his sensitive ears almost bleed. Harry cringed when he saw the horrified figure of Ron run towards the other side of the room, as far away as possible.

Ginny ran towards her brother but Ron pushed her away with strenght that no one knew how he could manage. He started to blabber something to anyone in particular and Ginny retreated as fast as she could from the place.

Harry didn't know what was happening with him anymore. As soon as he saw the growing fear in Ron's face, all he wanted to do was to protect his _mate_.

He kept walking towards the hunched figure in the farthest corner of the room, everything disappeared, except for that afraid redhead who needed him. Then, he felt someone grab his wrist with force, attempting to deviate him from his objective and he growled.

George's eyes went wide with surprise and Fred, slowly, pulled his wand out and casted a stunner. They barely managed to maneuver Harry's limp form out of the room and Hermione rushed to Ron's side, trying to calm him a bit.

Andromeda and Mrs. Weasley were in the kitchen when Ginny entered and told them what was happening. Molly immediately ran to the fireplace and called her oldest son.

"I spoke with the goblins just a moment ago, they told me that everything was in order for Harry to claim the Potter and Black estates whenever he wishes to do so. I also gave them the letter Harry wrote, they gave me the directions to a little cottage the Potters owned in the countryside. It will be better if someone takes Ron home and the others stay here in case Harry wants to go looking for him. I'll go to the place and make sure everything is in order, then I'll go to the Burrow to pick Ron up."

As soon as Bill's head disappeared from the fireplace, Molly bolted to the dining room and made him and Hermione follow her. Andromeda stayed behind to make sure that the twins had Harry under control.

At the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley closed the fireplace and adjusted the wards so that no one with werewolf blood could enter without permission. Once she was convinced that they were safe enough, she proceeded to tell Hermione what was going to happen once the full moon came by.

"I don't want him to know what Harry planned... It will freak him out more..."

"I know!" replied Hermione a bit exasperated. "But we can't just let him go without warning... Taking on account Harry's reaction, I'm almost sure that Ron is his wolf's mate. What Harry was trying to do was protect Ron when he saw fear in his eyes. His inner wolf didn't recognise that the fear Ron felt was inspired by Harry himself... In two weeks when the moon rises, the wolf will try to claim Ron, ritual or not, and if Ron refuses, he'll take the rejection as a challenge and will fight until Ron submits to him... He will... Force Ron to complete the mating ritual whether he likes it or not."

Molly gasped. She couldn't let that happen to her boy again. She wouldn't let Harry rape him!

"Mrs. Weasley... What we have to do... Is convince Ron to accept Harry. It's the only way... I've been looking for another way to break the curse but it's useless!" she stomped her feet angrily and tried to hold back tears. "Now... Harry won't stop until he has Ron with him and all we can do is make things easier..."

The redheaded woman nodded reluctantly. Bill appeared a moment later through the floo and sent Hermione upstairs to bring Ron.

Once they arrived to the property, Ron collapsed on the couch near the fireplace, too exhausted to even pay attention to his surroundings.

Hermione told the other Weasleys that she would stay with Ron those two weeks until Harry came to perform the ritual, and that she would try to convince him to give in to Harry.

Mrs. Weasley wasn't too convinced to leave them to their own devices, but when a house elf appeared and assured her that she would take care of them, she left.

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"I'm Shiny, I'll be serving Missy and Mister until the Master arrives. Is you needing something?" asked the house elf to Hermione. For a moment she felt tempted to free the poor thing, but then she noted the blood red pillowcase engraved with what should be the Potter crest on the front and the happy demeanor that the little elf carried, she changed her mind. She made a mental note to interview all the Potter house elves and ensure they were treated correctly.

"Um... You can call me Hermione... Or Mione, it's easier... Can you please bring us some food? We haven't eaten anything."

"Yes Miss Mione, right away!"

With a pop the little elf disappeared. Meanwhile Hermione tried to wake Ron up. He really looked like he was about to collapse. His skin was slowly picking a grayish tone, there were dark circles under his eyes and his cheeks were hollow. His lips were chapped and faded and his hair, although it was now a bit beyond his shoulders, was opaque and unattended. His usually slightly toned body turned slender and bony. He looked utterly fragile, as if the wind alone could break him.

She took a seat on the armchair next to the little coffee table where a tray carrying two complete meals appeared. "Is Miss Mione needing something else?"

"No, thank you." The little elf nodded and popped away.

Hermione stared at the peaceful form of her friend and sighed. "What am I going to do with you, Ron..."

She was almost finishing her meal when the floo activated. Hermione readily pointed her want towards the wobbling person coming out of it. It was Ginny.

"What are you doing here? I nearly hex you! Gods Ginny! I thought you were Harry!" shouted Hermione angrily.

"Sorry. Mum told me to check on you. Neither of you had breakfast so I thought I could bring something... I made them myself..." said the redheaded girl showing a container with pancakes, another with maple syrup and a bit of hope in her eyes.

"Um... Thank you but we already ate..." Ginny tried not to feel rejected, but she didn't do a good job hiding it. "But we can eat them for diner... Shiny!" called Hermione after a moment.

"Yes, Miss Mione?"

"Can you please take Miss Weasley's package to the kitchen? She brought some food, we'll have it for dinner." The little elf nodded and vanished the package from Ginny's hands. The redhead looked surprised to see Hermione ordering a house elf around, but didn't comment on it.

"Anything else?"

"No, thank you." Hermione smiled kindly at the little thing and it popped away.

"Well... I think you should go back... Ron went to sleep some minutes ago and I doubt he'll wake up anytime soon... I need to think how I'm going to convince him to let Harry come close to him let alone touch him..." The brunette sighed and slumped on the couch, Ginny sitting by her side.

She startled when Ginny took her hand in hers and the redhead only squeezed tighter giving her a comprehensive smile. "I know you'll make him see reason... If there's someone who he still listens to, that's you... Hermione I... Wanted to thank you for being there for my brother when I refused to... I know I'm a stupid girl but I've... I've really got no idea what I'd have done if Malfoy had killed him..." The redhead wiped some tears away.

"It's nothing... I know he would have done the same for me had I been in his place, also..." she was interrupted by a pair of thin lips on hers.

She gasped and Ginny took the opportunity to deepen the kiss. A soft hand pressed against the nape of her neck and the other moved to her waist to pull her closer. It was so perfect. Just like that time in sixth year when she had dreamt of kissing Ginny like this. Then she could imagine the redhead kissing back, slow and tender, loving... But this was totally different, because Ginny had been the one who started the kiss, and it was the redhead showing all those emotions, but all that she could feel at the moment was heartbreak.

Ginny broke the kiss when the sweet strawberry gloss of Hermione's lips was tainted by a salty substance. She was crying.

"He... Hermione?" the redhead moved a hand to wipe away the tears that were still falling, but was stopped by a tinier hand.

"Please... Leave.... I need to be alone... Thanks for the pancakes, I'm sure they're tasty..."

"Hermione I..."

"Please leave!" the brunette went out of the room, closing the door behind her and slumping against it. She pressed her ear to the cold wood and could hear the swish of the fireplace.

"Why are you crying?" asked a weak voice. She startled and pushed herself further against the door.

"Gods Ronald! You scared me! What are you doing here, I thought you went to sleep?"

"Yeah... Shiny took me to my room but it's too big... I couldn't be there so I took a tour of the place... It looks comfy y'know... So... Was it Ginny who just left?"

Hermione nodded and pulled herself up. "She brought pancakes... Said she made them herself..."

"Well... Pancakes are the only thing Ginny can actually cook, so I don't think you're crying because of those... What did she do now?" he arched an eyebrow.

Hermione noted sadly how the wrinkles in his forehead seemed more pronounced. He looked more tired than this morning... He looked so worn out, so old...

"She kissed me..." his other eyebrow nearly reached his hairline. "Don't look at me like that! I mean... Yeah, I've always wanted her to kiss me... It was as I imagined... Tender, and she actually managed to show me how much she loves me with that simple gesture... The problem is... That all I could feel was my heart breaking again... It was all I've ever wanted and yet it was so unbearable..."

They reached Ron's room and sat on the bed. He hugged her when her tears renewed. He could feel the distress rolling in waves off her. "Do you still love her?"

Hermione looked him in the eyes, sadness projected in her own. "Yes I do... But it's not the same... I love her and I fear her at the same time... I don't want her to hurt me again..." she sighed and rested her head in his shoulder. "Sometimes I wish I could just go back to loving her like I used to..."

"I think you need to forgive her... Talk to her, tell her how you feel. You accepted to spend the rest of your life with her, even if it was because you didn't want to feel guilty, but that doesn't mean that you have to be miserable."

Hermione nodded. She really needed to talk to Ginny. She truly loved the redheaded girl, and she longed to be in her arms and kiss her and be hers... "I'll do it... But first, we must solve your situation..."

"Oh Mione! There's no solution! Even if I found a werewolf willing to spend the rest of his life with me, I would only risk his sanity... I'd be dead anyway..."

"Harry's a werewolf..." Ron's eyes opened like saucers.

"W-what? No... No he..." Ron paled even more if that was possible.

"That's why he disappeared... The day he came back he was badly injured. He had a very big cut from his throat to his chest and a nasty werewolf bite in his right pectoral... Gods the skin was nearly ripped off! I don't know who bit him or how he managed to survive, but he did it all for you..."

"F-for me?" Ron couldn't believe his ears. Harry Potter, savior of the Wizarding World, had risked his own life to save him... But... "But... All werewolves have a destined mate... He surely wouldn't risk finding his to save me..." But why would Harry risk his happiness for him? It's not like he was worth it, anyways...

"Ron, look me in the eye." the boy reluctantly did so. "I think... Well... Based on the way Harry reacted when you recoiled in fear... I think that you are his mate..." He gave her a sad smile.

"I don't know... I'm feeling a bit tired... I think I'll catch on some sleep..." Hermione understood and hugged him tight, then she left his room.

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That week Hermione tried her best to explain and make Ron understand that he was Harry's mate.

She had received an owl the evening they arrived from the twins telling her that Harry had to be stunned every hour or so because he couldn't control himself. He was in an almost feral state, wanting to go to protect his mate and that he nearly bit George in the arm when they told him that Ron wasn't in Grimmauld Place anymore.

It was Friday afternoon, next Thursday would be the full moon and she needed to talk Ronald into accepting and allowing Harry to be close to him.

Even in this fragile state, one had to be blunt with him so that he could understand things for what they were.

"Ron... RON!" the redhead startled when he heard Hermione shout his name. "Did you listened to anything I just told you?" she arched an eyebrow when he absentmindedly nodded.

"Ok ok,I was thinking of... Of Malfoy..."

"What?" somehow her voice managed to sound like a squeak.

"Yeah... I know I shouldn't do it... But sometimes I can't avoid it... I feel like somehow him being imprisoned in that awful place is my fault. I should have never accepted his propoaal in the first place..."

"Ron, there's nothing you can do now. Besides, you couldn't have known that he was going to act like that. He paid for what he did and now you have to concentrate on what I'm telling you." he nodded.

"Listen... Harry wants to complete the ritual. The twins managed to calm him down when they reminded him what had to be done and how." a cute blush appeared in her cheeks. "The only problem is the way you'llreact when yousee him... He doesn'twant you to fear him, but he doesn'twant you to challenge him either..."

Ron arched an eyebrow. As if he could put up a fight with Harry in his current state.

"What I'mtrying to say is that Harry wants to mate with you, and he will see any kind of rejection as a challenge when the moment to consummate the bond comes. If you run away, he'll go after you, if you push him away, he'll push back to be closer... What I mean is that..."

"He will rape me and make me his whether I want it or not..." Ron finished for her. Hermione nodded and gave her a half smile.

"You have to accept him. He has been warned to take things easy on you. Shiny will be there the whole time to check on his behavior but you must not challenge him, am I clear?"

"And... And how am I supposed not to do that... Not to challenge him?"

"If he growls, all you have to do is lower your eyes and discover your throat. That's all. Just let him take control. Understood?"

"Yes mother." she gave him an exasperated look and huffed.

"Listen. Harry will not be on wolfsbane. For both rituals to work, it has to be the wolf's part of Harry's brain the one to claim you. That way it will recognize you as his mate and he won't be able to hurt you during the full moons, wolfsbane or not." he paled a bit more, but nodded anyway.

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Harry's mood changed every minute. One day he had gone from furious that Ron had been taken away, to being happy because the redhead was his mate, to whiny and sad because he wanted to be near Ron and wasn't allowed to.

Today he was like a younger version of Snape, always with snarky responses to everyone who dared ask him something. It was Wednesday evening and he wouldn't be near his young love for another twenty four hours.

Bill and Fred had explained him how things had to be done so that he could break the curse effectively, while George made sure to keep him seated on the chair.

All the morning he'd been restless and glaring at everyone, demanding to be brought to Ron's presence as soon as possible. Sometime over lunch he'd managed to get Mrs. Weasley annoyed and the usually sweet woman had shot him with a stinging and silencing charm that effectively made him shut up and stay in the drawing room pretending to be indignant with everyone except Teddy. All the one year old boy knew was that Harry made him laugh with funny faces and tickling fingers on his tiny ribs.

Harry had been thinking a lot about the possibility of adopting little Teddy once he and Ron had gotten married, of course, with the approval of Andromeda. Teddy was the only link to her daughter that she still had left, but he loved the little rascal as if he was his own flesh and blood. He was sure that once he had resolved his differences with Ron, he would agree with the idea of raising the baby as the first of the many children they would surely have.

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It was Thursday afternoon. Seven o'clock to be exact. Harry was due to arrive at seven thirty, and he was supposed to get ready.

Hermione ordered him to take a shower and dressed him in the best casual clothes he owned, which consisted in his newest Weasley sweater, beige linen pants that at some point had belonged to George and his worn out snickers.

"C-can we do this next month?" whispered the boy in the softest voice he could muster. Hermione could barely hear him, and hugged him tight from behind the chair that he was sitting in. She was combing his now shoulder-length hair, trying to arrange it causally.

"Oh Ron! You perfectly know that we... That you can't wait anymore... You're not in your best shape, to put it lightly, and you need Harry. I... He promised he won't hurt you. Your brothers made him promise that he would be gentle." both flushed a little.

"The thing is, Mione, that in the end it doesn't matter if he is gentle or how much he restrains himself not to hurt me... I'm still afraid of him... I can't see him without nearly peeing my pants! I'm scared that he will do what Malfoy did to me! Bloody hell I can't even look at him without seeing Malfoy at the same time!"

Ron was nearly panicking and Harry was due to arrive in fifteen minutes. "Ron calm down! Please! Breathe!" Hermione hugged him tighter and ran one hand through his red hair, combing his soft hair back.

Ron was crying. He turned and hid his face in Hermione's chest. They were in silence for a good fifteen minutes when they heard the floo flare.

"Master Harry is here, Miss. He demands to see his mate at once." Shiny popped into the room with a concerned expression on her face.

"Please tell him to wait for me in the living room. I need to speak with your master's mate for a minute, okay?" replied the brunette, trying to hide the little elf from her friend's vision. It wouldn't do well to let him see a worried Shiny after all...

After the elf popped away, Hermione busied herself in cleaning Ron's tear stricken face. "Now listen to me Ron. I want you to do what you did when you had to choose between Malfoy and Harry. When he steps through that door, I want you to close your eyes and take a deep breath. I want you to reach out to your heart and let it guide you to Harry, okay?" The boy was shaking a bit, trying not to cry again. He took a deep breath and released it slowly, then nodded.

"Okay. Just remember. Don't challenge him. If he growls, stay still. Ask him not to hurt you and do what he says, ok? Harry won't hurt you more than he needs to mark you, I know." she rubbed his arms in an attempt to comfort him and his shaking faded a bit. She kissed him one last time in the forehead and walked towards the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" Ron nodded, she smiled and got out.

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Impatient was an understatement for what Harry Potter was feeling in that moment. He could smell Ron's fragrance from the other side of the cottage mingled with cherry blossom and strawberry lip gloss. Hermione was still here.

Shiny asked him to wait for the brunette here. It was already seven thirty and Hermione was. Still. With. Ron.

"Harry!" Hermione nearly shouted when he paid her no attention. The boy startled and growled.

"Gods Hermione! You scared me! What are you still doing here? Where's Ron? I want to see him."

"Well, hello there, it's nice to see you too." They gave an annoyed look to each other. "Ron tried to back out... He nearly fell into a panic attack some minutes ago..."

"Is he alright?" asked Harry alarmed. "Where is he? He needs me!"

"Harry for Merlin's sake calm down! He's fine now, just nervous, that's all. Listen, he's afraid that if he can't control himself, you'll force him and end up doing what Malfoy did to him." Harry's eyes opened like plates.

"I would never..."

"I know! But he's really scared. Please try to be gentle and delicate... He's weak. He's like a wounded little animal at the moment, so don't startle him when you go into the room."

Harry nodded and reassured the brunette that he would do everything in his power to keep Ron safe and sound.

After she left, he walked through the hall, following that cinnamon roll scent that he loved so much. He stopped in front of an ajar door and peeked inside.

There, seated on the windowsill was the thin, faded version of what Harry once knew to be a strong minded, healthy, young Ronald Weasley.

His sweater hung from his shoulders as if it was in a wire hanger. He could see the thin frame shake with sobs. His legs looked bony even through those baggy pants.

He crossed his arms around himself and closed his eyes, a lone tear tracing a wet path down his cheek. Harry could see the slender fingers turn to fists, the white, bony knuckles showing through the grayish pale skin.

Harry entered the room and could see that the redheaded boy clenched his eyes shut tighter and walked as slowly as he could, trying to make every step sound so that Ron could know how far from him he was.

"You don't have to fear me, y'know? I am not like him..." said Harry in a calmed voice. When he was near enough to Ron, he reached out and put his hands in the other boy's bony shoulders. Then, he understood what Hermione and Mrs. Weasley meant when they told him that Ron was weak... With his new werewolf strength he could easily break some bones without really meaning to. The redhead started to tremble slightly and he immediately removed his hands.

"Just do it fast... Pease... Do whatever you came to do... Finish with this..." replied Ron in a dead, soft voice. He reached out to lift his sweater but Harry stopped him.

"I won't hurt you..." Harry wrapped his arms around Ron's waist, pulling him to his chest. Then, as carefully as he could, placed an arm under the redhead's bent knees and scooped him up, carrying him to the bed.

"I don't care anymore..." whispered Ron. It broke Harry's heart to see that Ronald's eyes were tightly shut and was trying to hide his face in his chest.

When he deposited the boy on the bed, Ron opened his eyes, just a tiny bit, and looked at him through long, auburn lashes, his blue eyes sparkling with unshed tears. Once again he tried to pull out his sweater, bur Harry stopped his hand, gently swatting it away and sliding his own into the warm fabric.

The touch of Ron's soft skin under his fingers immediately sent his senses in overdrive. How long had he wished to have his best friend writhing beneath him? How long had he dreamt of kissing those lips chapped and faded? How long had he imagined the sound of Ron's every grunt and moan while he buried himself each time deeper into him? He didn't know. And the truth is that, at that precise moment, it didn't matter anymore. Because now he had that lithe body underneath, and now he could do whatever his darkest desire dictated. He would have his wicked way with Ronald Billius Weasley anytime he wanted for the rest of his life.

Harry straddled Ron's hips, his hands still under the sweater. He bent down and started by kissing his forehead, aware of the still shaking figure beneath him. Then he kissed his nose, each one of his cheeks, and at last his lips.

The feather light contact made Ron relax a bit. He had no idea how, but all of a sudden the fear had gone away. That simple kiss had forsaken the darkness that was starting to hollow his heart.

Harry ran the tip of his tongue through his bottom lip at the same time that rough fingers caressed his chest making him gasp. The green-eyed boy used this opportunity to intertwine his tongue with the other one's.

Ron, unconsciously, whimpered at the loss of contact when Harry pulled away to throw both of their sweaters away. The green-eyed boy then lowered his head until his lips brushed against pink little peaks. He sucked one into his mouth and caressed the other with his right hand, while the left one dove into the boy's linen pants.

Under the rough linen and over the soft cotton, Harry ran his hand freely through Ron's slowly awakening cock. It was difficult to restrain himself when such a beautiful boy was underneath him. He felt a hand brush his forehead and looked up, Ron was looking at him almost pleadingly, then, the boy pointed one slender finger to the window and Harry understood. He had to hurry up before the moonlight covered the room.

Harry nodded and reached out to kiss the redhead once more before pulling both of their pants down. He could feel eyes on him and looked up to see Ron staring at his large shaft. “I don't want to hurt you any more than I need to, so I have to…”

Ron didn't even let him finish, he only crawled to the center of the bed and plopped onto his stomach. Harry, as if hipnotized by the movement of the redhead's hips, followed closely behind. When he was positioned behind the boy, he bent to kiss the freckled shoulder blades, trying to distract Ron from the discomfort that was to come.

Harry slid a long, calloused finger into him and memories flooded back. He knew that it wasn't Malfoy invading him this time. He knew that by no means Harry would abuse him. He closed his eyes again, not wanting to remember when Malfoy sunk his teeth in his shoulder. Not wanting to remember when Malfoy burried himself at once, not caring if he felt like being split in two.  
Harry was different. He had to be.

Ron flinched when another finger entered him, Harry noticed and delivered a soft kiss in the redhead's lower back. He started to scissor his fingers in and out, looking for his best friend's sweet spot. Suddenly Ron arched his back in a violent way, losing the support his own arms and legs were giving him. He landed flat on the mattress and tried to drown a wanton moan in the sheets. Harry smiled to himself and stroked Ron's prostate until he was sure the boy would come from only his fingers; he himself was in heaven listening to every gasp and moan that made it past the redhead's lips.

Harry turned to look at the window. The moonlight was halfway to the bed and he could already feel his body tensing to begin the transformation. He retired his fingers and pulled Ron to his chest.

"Harry? W-what..."

The dark haired boy kissed him passionately while pushing him towards the headboard.  
Harry made sure that Ron's hands and chest were tight against the wall before caging him with his own arms. "I'll make sure you never love anyone but me, Ron." He pressed a kiss in the boy's neck. "I'll make sure the only man you ever think about is me." Then, another. "I will be yours and you'll be mine for life and beyond." He pressed himself against Ron's back and reached down to grip his own erection. "And from this moment to eternity, I mark you as my mate."

Harry's voice grew rougher by the second. Then, he pressed the tip of his shaft to Ron's entrance and while he kissed him, he buried himself deeper and deeper, swallowing every moan and gasp of mixed pleasure and pain the boy produced.

Ron reached down to pump his own unattended cock while Harry pounded him into the wall. He could feel behind him how Harry's bones snapped and rearranged themselves into their werewolf form. He could hear Harry's grunts of pain and pleasure filling the air along with his own gasps.

Harry ran a hand along his chest and he touched it. He could feel the muscles stretching, the hair of his arm grow until it was nearly fur. He could feel the claws growing and scratching his skin. Then he screamed. Harry sunk his long, sharp teeth into the mark that disfigured Ron's beautifully freckled skin. He broke the curse at last. Blood flowed from the bite and Harry drank it. It's metallic taste filling his mouth. He licked the wound once and then kissed Ron for all that he was worth.

Harry bit his tongue during the kiss and let some of his blood mix with Ron's. It felt as if someone had shot him with an electric gun. He felt his testicles tighten and pushed Ron further into the wall. The redhead came with a groan but the soft sound was swallowed by an unearthly howl, signaling Harry's own climax.  
Harry pulled away from Ron and threw himself to the floor. The pain was too much to handle. His chest tightened and his ribs broke, his calf bones were snapping in two and claws appeared where his feet were mere seconds ago. A thundering scream filled the air. Then silence.

Ron landed on his back after Harry pulled away, still too lost in his daze to notice anything at all. The metallic taste in his mouth was the only thing telling him that something was going on. He tried to move to turn to see his lover and a sharp pain in his neck and the soreness in the rest of his body stopped him. After a moment he felt the other side of the bed deepen and a huge, furry arm pulled him against someone's chest. He wanted to turn around, but he was so spent that when he closed his eyes, he fell asleep.

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The next morning found a very confused Ronald Weasley crawling out of bed still half asleep. It was weird. He felt as if he had run around the Quidditch pitch for like five hours nonstop.  
He entered the bathroom, it was still a bit dark outside. "Hm... Too early..."  
He was about to pee when he felt something sliding down his thighs. He opened his eyes like plates and looked down. Why the hell was he naked? And what the freaking fuck was that thing on his legs? And suddenly everything came to him and he wanted to scream.  
Ron rushed to look himself in the mirror and was stupefied when he saw that, instead of that awful curse mark, was what looked to be a very nasty bite. It looked freshly scarred. He could perfectly differentiate the fangs and the crescent little moons that were the rest of the teeth.  
He ran a hand through it and flinched. It still hurt like hell. He was so lost trying to remember when exactly Harry had bitten him that he didn't notice the boy looking at him from the doorframe.

"Are you coming back to bed?" Ron jumped in fright and Harry chuckled. "Honestly love, I know you are handsome but I never took you for a narcissist..." Ron turned to look at him and carefully stepped back. He had no idea what to do, he was so confused for what had happened and still scared of Harry that when he touched the tiles on the wall he let himself fall and hugged his knees to his chest.

"Ron, are you alright baby?" Harry frowned and hurried to the redhead's side when he started to rock back and front. Ron started to mumble incoherences and when Harry tried to touch him, he started to hyperventilate. "Shit!"

Carefully, Harry picked Ron up and carried him to the bed, positioning him between his legs and started to stroke his chest in a soothing way. "Please baby, calm down... I'm here... It's me, Harry... I won't hurt you." He pressed the boy tighter to his chest and held him there. "Listen to me... Concentrate on my breathing... Can you feel it? Can you feel my breathing?" Ron started to take deep breaths and his mumbling stopped. "That's right sweetheart, that's it... That's it."

"Ha-Harry..."

"Yes love?" The redhead turned to look at those green eyes, and gasped in surprise when he saw that those emerald orbes he had fallen for were replaced by pure gold, flecks of a pale green dancing here and there. Then Ron remembered what Harry had done to help him. He remembered what had to be sacrificed to bring him back, and he couldn't stand the thought of Harry giving up more than he had already lost to save him. Tears flowed from his eyes freely and he tried to hide them.

"I'm sorry..." Harry couldn't understand what was going on.

"About what, love?" Ron placed his hands on Harry's cheeks and looked him in the eye.

"I'm so sorry, Harry... You've already given up so much... You didn't have to... I didn't want you to..." Harry placed a finger over Ron's lips, shutting him up. Thinking about whatever the redhead was going to say made him angry. It was obvious that he still thought that he was undeserving of whatever good happened to him thanks to Malfoy, and Harry was having none of it.

"Listen to me, Ron. Cause I will only say this once. You have nothing to be sorry about. What I did, yes, I did it for you, but I also did it because I wanted to. I knew that this was the only way for us to be together... I knew that I becoming a werewolf meant that I could have you for myself the rest of our lives... Gods Ron... Last night... It was amazing... Touching you, being buried deep inside you... Marking you as mine... It felt so right and I felt so powerful knowing that no one would ever take you away from me again..." Harry closed the distance between them and kissed Ron like, here was no tomorrow, only separating when their lungs started to hurt. "Merlin knows I would take you again and again until you could barely stand right... I want to have you right now but first I have to take care of you, so... We might as well put some clothes on before I change my mind..." Said Harry giving the redhead a dirty look. Ron blushed and with trembling voice called Shiny and ordered breakfast and some clothes.

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Hermione was placidly reading on the couch, Ginny at her feet trying to concentrate on her copy of Witch Weekly when the floo activated. It was sometime past midday when Harry came tumbling through, holding a much better looking Ron by the hand.

"Harry! Ron! What are you doing here?" Said the brunette, standing from her position and locking her two best friends in a tight hug.

"Anyone would say you're not happy to see us, Mione..." Said Harry, breathing hard when the hug got too tight.

"Oh sorry!" The brunette stood there looking at her friends while Ginny hugged them welcome and checked Ronald for any injury, giving Harry sideway glances of warning. Mrs. Weasley came rushing through the door and nearly pushed everyone to the side to get to her son. She engulfed the poor Ron into a hug that could have broken some bones had she hold him a bit tighter.

"Oh Ronald! I was so worried! How are you feeling, love? Are you hungry? Are you alright? Do you need rest? Anything?"

"It's ok mum. Harry and I just had breakfast... Though I must admit I'm a bit tired... Can I go to sleep?" Said the redhead a bit ashamed. Harry grabbed his hand and started directing him towards the entrance of the drawing room.

The feeling of Harry's hand in his was still foreign. He felt uncomfortable being near him despite last night's activities. He gently tugged his hand from the boy's and looked at Hermione, then back at Harry.

"Actually, I'd like to talk to Mione for a moment..." Hermione raised an eyebrow and followed Ron to his room, leaving Harry behind all confused and hurt by the rejection of his mate.

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"So... How did it go?" Asked the brunette as soon as the door clicked shut and privacy spells were in place.

"Harry managed to break the curse." He lowered his shirt and showed her his new mating mark. "Today I woke up and didn't remember what had happened, then Harry came into the bathroom and for some reason I thought it was Malfoy... I thought he was going to hurt me but he managed to calm me down before I lost it! I... I still feel uncomfortable around him... I don't know what to do..." He sighed tiredly.

"Well... You might as well try to get rid of that discomfort soon... I read that some newly mated werewolves tend to be at all times near their mates... They feel paranoid about the relationship... Something about it being threatened..." Ron frowned. "I know it sounds weird, but it has relation with the wolf establishing domain... The more he is with you... With and without clothes..." Hermione blushed. "The more his essence impregnates in you... It's like marking his territory, so that other wolves are aware who you belong to and they can't touch you."

"I... Think I get it... But it's not that easy! I was raped, Mione... And despite what happened yesterday, I'm not ready for him to... To take me again... He said he needed to take care of me first... Hell he even made me eat his breakfast this morning! I just don't know how to be around him anymore... It's so strange..." She took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze.

"I know it's difficult, Ron. Trust me... It's the same with me and Ginny... I got so used to being with Daphne that when Gin kisses me it's weird... Sometimes I have to remind myself that this was my choice and that she needs me... Usually she's the one to start the conversations although they never last. She's the one to initiate any physical contact... I know she's trying her best." She wiped a tear away. "Once I caught her crying... She was holding one of my nightshirts. She saw me and smiled... Then... As if anything had happened... She told me that everything was ok, that I needn't worry because she would make sure her love was enough for the two of us... But the truth is that it's not enough. I am trying, Ron. Because I know that if I don't, it will kill us both in the end."

Hermione smiled sadly and gave him a kiss on the forehead before leaving. "Just try to let go... That's what I do. I'll tell Harry that you fell asleep."

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It was five o'clock in the afternoon. Harry had been told by Mrs. Weasley that now that he and Ron were bonded, they needed to plan the wedding and it had to be as soon as possible. He had given her access to the Potter's Gringotts vault and left all the planning in her hands on one condition: only close friends were invited.

He was so excited! He could barely manage to hide his happiness when the twins arrived.

"Ickle Harrykins... Whatcha doin' in this beautiful afternoon?" Asked Fred.

"Where did you leave our beautiful baby brother?" George wiggled his eyebrows and winked at Harry. He could only blush.

"Surely he can still walk right..."

"Right, can't imagine Ronnie limping for the rest of his life..."

"The one who'll limp for the rest of the night is you if you don't shut up..." Said Ron a bit sleepily. He was standing halfway down the stairs when he heard the twins teasing Harry.

Ron rubbed the sleep off his eyes and, to Harry, that was the cutest sight he had seen all day.

"Um... Harry... Can I talk to you for a moment?" Harry's goofy smile painted his lips and he nodded. The twins started to giggle at Harry's expense and ran from the corridor when Ron shot them a threatening look.

Back in Ron's room, Harry trapped the redhead in a hug from behind and started to kiss the nape of his neck. His hands moved slowly up to the boy's chest and down to his belly, caressing it with reverence.

"Gods Ron... Can you imagine? We getting married, moving to the cottage... Our own home..."

"H-Harry..." Seeker hands moved quickly under the boy's shirt, rough fingers tracing paths on soft skin.

"I can... I can imagine making love to you on every surface imaginable... I can imagine you pregnant with our first child..." Harry's fingers started to tease Ron's nipples and without warning a moan escaped his lips. He covered his mouth as fast as he could; Harry kissed his cheek and nibbled his ear, eliciting another treacherous moan.

"H-Harry... Please... You said... Ah... You said you w-would take care of me first..." Harry's ministrations were turning most of his brain to jelly, but the one part of it that still worked was begging him to stop the other boy. Despite of the effect that Harry's hands had on him, he was sure that he wasn't ready to consciously allow the seeker to touch him that way.

"I know baby, and I will..." Harry's left hand traveled fast down the redhead's belly and over his linen jeans, massaging Ron ever so slowly and ripping a gasp from him.

"Harry... Please..." Ron's right hand shot down to try to stop Harry's own. He felt the werewolf's right hand trying to go under the waistband of his pants and he stilled. Harry felt the tension of Ron's back against his chest and moved his hands away.

The boy-who-lived moved to sit on the bed and saw how sad Ron's face looked. "I'm sorry sweetheart, I just... I just got carried away..." He combed his hair with his fingers and huffed in frustration. Ron moved his arms and hid his face under his long red locks.

"S-sorry..." Harry's head shot up and in an instant he was taking Ron's hands in his own.

"Ronald look at me... I told you! You have done nothing wrong! It's my fault... I tried to push you... I shouldn't have..." Harry pulled him back to the bed. They were sitting side by side and Harry's thumbs were drawing circles in Ron's open palms. "Please forgive me, love. I promise I'll do my best to keep my impulses at bay, ok?" Ron nodded. "So, what is it that you want to talk to me about?"

"Well... I... Harry I d-don't think that I'm ready to... Well... To do those things... It feels really weird when you kiss me..." Ron looked Harry in the eye and the now amber-eyed boy only arched an eyebrow in question. "I-I mean it's not that you're not a good kisser... I like it when you kiss me, I really do... After all I waited years for you to do it... It's just that... Well... I never thought that I would never get to be with you and then everything that happened with Malfoy... It's just too much now... Can we... Take it slowly? I know that all your wolf wants is to be... With me... I understand... But... But... Please?"

Ron looked at him with the cutest puppy eyes he'd ever seen, he was sure of that, and he could feel his wolf purring happily inside. He was sure that both could cope with the lack of sex as long as Ron was comfortable being near them.

"Of course we can take it slow, baby. You just let me now when I cross the line, ok?" Ron nodded and stood up, planting a kiss on Harry's cheek.

He was about to open the door when he remembered the real reason why he had asked Harry to come with him. He turned around and took one of those tanned hands in his and knelt in front of the boy. Harry frowned, but when Ron started to speak, his eyes opened like plates.

"I know that I haven't been the best of friends, and honestly, I don't know what I ever did to deserve your friendship, but ever since the moment I met you, I knew that someday we would be together, even if I didn't acknowledge it back then... When I found out that I loved you, I swore to myself that I would try to make you happy and give you everything I had. I already offered you my family and my home..." Ron reached out to one of his pockets and pulled a very simple, thin platinum chain from it. Harry was speechless and utterly stunned. He never expected Ron to propose to him, not after the way he treated him, but he was taken aback once again by his love's great heart. He knew that Ron had given his parents all the money he'd been awarded with after the battle of Hogwarts as part of his Order of Merlin First Class to repair their house. That only meant that the boy should have saved all the money his parents gave him to buy this beautiful gift. His eyes filled with tears when Ron started to speak again. "All I have is this, and my love... I know it's not much, but it's yours as long as you want it... So... Harry James Potter... Would you be my husband?"

Harry threw himself at Ron and kissed him for all he was worth. He was so touched by the redhead's words that he had no idea what to do. He only nodded and pulled Ron up with him, throwing him back on the bed and kissing him again.

"That's not fair. You know? You stole my lines!" Said Harry with a goofy smile on his lips. "Of course I will marry you. Ronald Weasley. I want to spend the rest of my days waking up to your beautiful face, I want to kiss you good morning and make love to you every single day until I die!"

They kissed until a soft knock on the door made them part. "Guys are you alright? It's dinnertime! Mum made cinnamon rolls." Said Ginny.

"We'll be there in a minute!" Shouted Harry, going back to kissing his redhead. A few seconds later, they heard the door shut and giggles going down the corridor.

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During dinner, Harry announced his engagement to Ron. All the Weasleys, Andromeda and Teddy were excited about it. Well, actually the little child had no idea what was going on, but he shared the elders' excitement anyway.

Harry's happiness was evident all the time, and not even once did he let go of Ron's hand.

Ginny, Hermione and Fleur were fussing over Ron to get him to agree to let them dress him his wedding day, while the guys teased them about how long the dress would last.

"Harry, may I have a word with you?" Asked Mr. Weasley when everyone was distracted enough. Harry nodded and followed the man out of the kitchen and into the drawing room.

Once the older man casted privacy wards, he engulfed the boy in a tight hug. "Thank you, Harry... For saving my son... I don't know how I'll ever repay you..."

"Mr. Weasley, you owe me nothing... You have given me more than I could have ever asked for... You accepted me in your family and gave me love when I needed it... I'll be honest... What I did for Ron, I did it for pure selfish reasons. I couldn't stand the thought of Ron loving someone other than me. The jealousy and sadness were eating me from the inside. I love your son with all my being and I am willing to spend the rest of my life with him. All I ask is for you to bless our marriage and the family we may have." The man hugged him once more and ruffled his hair.

"Of course I will, Harry. You and my boy deserve all the happiness in the world. Have you already decided when will you get married?" The redhead arched an eyebrow.

"Actually I think we ought to ask Mrs. Weasley... She asked me permission to start planning it and she will take care of all the details. She has access to one of the Potter vaults, so you don't need to worry about that." Mr. Weasley's eyes opened like plates. When had that happened? He thought that the girls were kidding when they talked about taking Ron gown-hunting to Diagon Alley tomorrow morning! Harry only scratched the back of his neck and gave him a lopsided smile.

"Alright, I guess you have it all sorted out so..."

"Um... Well, actually... I would like for you to help me choose wedding rings. It's the only thing Mrs. Weasley let me do and I don't know how to choose them so..." Mr. Weasley clapped him on the back and dragged him back to the kitchen.

"Consider it done, son. Just let me know when you want to go, ok? Now go and rescue Ronald from his brothers' unmerciful teasing and go to sleep. Molly will want to see you all up and about early tomorrow morning." Harry grinned from ear to ear. His future father-in-law was practically giving him permission to sleep with Ron before marriage... But, well... It wasn't something they hadn't done before.

The boy ran from the place and bursted into the kitchen faster than a firebolt. Grabbing his redheaded lover by both arms, he dragged him out of the place with nothing more than a quick kiss to Teddy and a wave of the hand to the rest.

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"Harry? What's wrong? Did my father tell you something? What happened?" Asked Ron a bit out of breath. Harry only shook his head and wrapped him in a tight hug from behind. "H-Harry?"

"It's nothing love, I'm just happy." Harry licked the shell of Ron's ear and then kissed it. The redhead felt a shiver run down his spine. "Your father practically gave us permission to sleep together..." The redhead shot out of Harry's arms and nearly collided with the bed. The raven haired boy gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don't you worry baby. I'll make you mine again when the time is right... When you are ready..." Harry closed the distance between them and took both of Ron's hands in his to make him wrap his arms around his neck. "Now... Where were we? Ah... Yes... I was snogging you..." The green eyed boy pushed the redhead further onto the bed and devoured his lips like there was no tomorrow.

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"Are you sure that this is necessary, Mione? I'm tired..." Ronald Weasley dragged his feet through Diagon Alley, carrying bags of shrunken bags of clothes and various items more. The brunette walking a few steps away from him shot him a menacing glare and he immediately ran to walk beside her.

"Honestly, Ronald. You're getting married in two weeks and you still haven't the slightest idea of what you're going to wear. We've visited at least five shops and you've tried every single gown and you don't like them!" She replied, stopping in front of Fortescue's and sitting in one of the benches. "I know you're tired, I am too... But it's your wedding! You should be excited!"

"I am. I promise... It's just that lately I've been so tired... I can't sleep at night and sometimes Harry makes it even more difficult..." Said Ron taking a seat too. Hermione looked at him and raised an eyebrow, a mischievous smirk on her lips. "It's not what you're thinking, you pervert! Sometimes when I'm finally falling asleep, he curls around me and snores in my ear... He never snored before..."

"Or perhaps you never noticed?" The redhead frowned.

"No, I'm sure... Anyway. It's more like he purrs instead of snoring... It's weird..." Ron yawned and Hermione almost felt pity for her friend. Harry and her had been talking lately and he had expressed, very enthusiastically if she could say, how much he wanted to make the redheaded boy his... For Merlin's sake, he had even given her a very clear mental image of the things he wanted to do to the boy... She really doubted that the redhead could have a good night's rest in at least the next twelve months following his wedding...

"Have you thought what you're going to do on your wedding night? I mean... Harry will surely... Well... You know..." She asked. Ron paled and avoided her gaze.

"I don't know..." He whispered. "I mean, I really want to... Hell I've been wanting it since the very first moment I knew I loved him... But I'm scared." Hermione stood up and extended a hand to him.

"Let's go back to Grimmauld Place. Ok?" He smiled at his friend and with a loud pop both desapparated.

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The house was empty. All the Weasleys had gone back to their respective homes - Ginny and Hermione had gone back with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley - and Ron had stayed with Harry, Andromeda and Teddy.

Harry had insisted that Ron moved in with him and thus slept with him every night. Truth be told, Ron's lack of sleep was because he was always so nervous that Harry would try something in his sleep and he wouldn't be able to stop him.

Despite that the green-eyed boy always reassured him, he still felt insecure. Ron was sure of his love for Harry; if anything, his love for the raven haired man increased tenfold since he broke the curse, but the problem was that Malfoy had left some nasty scars on him, not only in his mind and heart, but also in his body and he wasn't sure how Harry would react once he saw him without the effects of the full moon dominating him.

"So... What was it that Harry told you about Teddy?" Asked Hermione, ripping Ron from his musings.

"Eh? Ah, yes... Well, you know how much Harry loves Teddy... He told me that he would really love to have his very own family, and he said that he would very much like to adopt him... Harry asked me if it is ok with me to adopt the baby after we got married. He already asked Andromeda and she said that she would be glad... She can take care of him but she knows that she is old... Andy said that she wouldn't like for her grandson to be alone..." Ron sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Suddenly, he felt like the floor was removed from underneath his feet and he fell down.

"RON! Ron what's wrong? Please answer to me!" Hermione shot down to help her best friend get up. The redhead was unconscious and her worry was evident in her face. She took her wand out and casted a patronus, sending it away for help, then levitated the boy and carefully put him on the couch.

Some minutes later, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley appeared through the floo, followed by Madame Pomfrey. The matron asked Hermione what had happened and the brunette, scared, told everything from when they left Grimmauld to when they returned.

Mrs. Weasley was trying to calm the worried girl while the matron casted spell after diagnostic spell on the boy. The old woman frowned and looked at the unconscious boy's face and then to his belly.

"What's wrong?" Asked Ginny, noticing the change in demeanor of the witch.

"Forgive me for my bluntness but... Do you by chance know when exactly was the last time dear Ronald here had sexual intercourse?" Mrs. Weasley blushed and Ginny frowned in confusion.

"According to Harry, the only time they had sex was when he broke the curse Malfoy put on my brother... That was three weeks ago... Why is that important?" The witch turned to look at Ron again and casted one more spell on him. This time, a pistachio green like light shone over the boy's belly button and Hermione and Mrs. Weasley gasped.

"Well... That confirms my suspicions..." Ginny's face was blank. She clearly didn't understand what was happening. Hermione noticed her girlfriend's confusion and hugged her by the waist. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed her cheek when the redheaded girl slid an arm around her shoulders.

"Harry and Ron are having a baby!" Said the brunette excitedly, bouncing in her girlfriend's arms.

Ginny was left standing there, mouth wide open in surprise, when her mother and girlfriend ran to the couch to fuss over an awakening Ron. Madame Pomfrey hushed the women to talk to the boy herself.

He was utterly confused when he woke up. He could hear voices. They were muffled by the noise in his head. When his mother noticed that he was awake, she ran towards him, followed by Hermione. Ron could see Madame Pomfrey trying to shoo them away but she wasn't succeeding at all.

Then, when he was conscious enough, he could feel something tickling his belly; like feathers caressing him slowly. He touched his abdomen and could see that a soft green light was shining on him.

His mother hugged him one last time and let the matron do her job. She waved her wand once and his head cleared a bit. "How are you feeling, dear? Is the dizziness gone?" She asked kindly.

He nodded. "What happened? And why is my stomach glowing? It tickles..." He slid his hand under his sweater and scratched the sensation away.

"You fainted, Ron. I was really scared... I called your mother and she called Madame Pomfrey... I'm sorry... I shouldn't have worked you out like that..." The brunette clung to his neck and started sobbing. Ron only patted her shoulder and reassured her that he was feeling better.

"I think we should call Harry..." Whispered Ginny. The werewolf had taken Teddy to the doctor because he wasn't feeling ok. Andromeda was sick with the floo and they both feared that the baby had gotten sick too.

"Why do we need to call Harry? I'm fine... I was just tired... I'm sure I only need rest..." He looked at the matron and raised an eyebrow. Hermione and Mrs. Weasley looked at each other and the brunette started to giggle while Ginny casted a patronus, sending it away to fetch Harry.

A few minutes later, Andromeda and Harry stepped through the floo. Ginny moved to take a sleeping Teddy from Harry's arms and he rushed to Ron's side.

"Baby what's wrong? Are you alright? What happened?" Asked a very worried Harry. Ginny's message only said that he was needed as soon as possible, but she didn't tell him why.

"I'm fine, Harry... I just need some rest... Right, madame Pomfrey?" Ron asked again, trying to swat away Harry's touchy hands. The woman smiled reassuringly and nodded, then she cleared her throat to call everyone's attention.

"Actually Ronald, there's something I need you to know... But first answer some questions please." The boy nodded and Harry grabbed his hand. "How long have you been feeling like this? I mean, the dizziness and nausea?"

Ron frowned. "Almost two weeks... Sometimes I have to force myself to eat something to make it through... But..."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Harry asked in a strained tone. He was upset, Ron could tell by the swirling of gold and green in his eyes. He could only look down ashamed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to make you worry for nothing..." The young werewolf was about to speak, but the mediwitch interrupted him.

"Actually, Mr. Weasley, that's quite normal for someone in your condition." Ron's blank face told her that he wasn't understanding a thing. "You see... Sometimes, the spell I just used on you shines silver when the result of the test is negative, and glows gold when it's positive... In this case, as the baby you're carrying right now turns out to be a half breed, the light it emits is a soft green."

The woman smiled kindly at both Harry and Ron. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were cooing at Teddy and Andromeda only stood there, eyes wide open, staring at the redhead's belly.

Harry's eyes, too, opened like plates and, although he tried to speak, no words could come out of his mouth. Ron was pretty much in the same state as his fiancé, mouth gaping like a fish. Both men looked at each other and then Harry placed a hand over Ron's belly button. A lone tear escaped his eyes.

"Is... Is it true? Am I going to be a father?" Asked the raven-haired man, not yet believing what he just heard.

"I can perform the spell again for you to see it." The couple nodded at once and the matron waved her wand over the redheaded boy's belly again. Ron gasped and ran his hand over Harry's, feeling the tickling sensation once again.

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The bonding ceremony was finally over. The past two weeks had been hell for Ron because he was dizzy and tired all the time. Madame Pomfrey had forbidden any kind of remedy, muggle and magical, because it could hurt the baby.

Harry and his mother had been like hawks, always keeping an eye on him in case he tried to take something for his nausea but honestly, he wasn't that selfish. His baby was first!

Mrs. Weasley had insisted that at least three days before the wedding he had to go back to the Burrow because, as a future bonded Weasley, he had to complete some kinds of rituals to "ensure fertility"... As if he needed that right now...

Hermione had taken upon herself to finish all the details regarding his gown, which, by the way, was a masterpiece. It was a muggle white tunic made of cotton and silk. The design was like those people used in the ancient Greece. Silver linings adorned the cotton and white gold surrounded the hems. Ginny had taken the task to style his now long hair into a low ponytail and she had cut his bangs, forming red curtains to frame his face, while Fleur had decided that he needed to look "pretty for his future husband."

The French girl covered his face with some kind of powder that made some of his freckles disappear, then she applied some colour to his cheeks and a shimmery thing to his eyelids and lips. All in all he looked kinda stunning, like one of those models that appeared on Ginny's muggle fashion magazines.

His mother had cried when she saw him all dressed up and ready to walk on the aisle; probably it just started to sink in... Her youngest son was going to get married and have a family of his own...

As tradition dictated, his father had to walk him down the aisle and into a circle woven with salt and magic, in which Harry was already waiting for him, with his amber-green eyes shining in the dimly lit tent. It was two days before the full moon and the poor raven haired boy was paranoid regarding his mate and unborn cub's safety, so as soon as he made it into the circle, was engulfed in a bear-like hug by Harry.

Everything went on as planned. Kingsley had performed every spell correctly and the security wards were still in place, no nosy reporters messing around. The reception was magnificent. Close friends and family were dancing in the moonlight and somehow Teddy found his way between them when they had to do their first dance as a married couple. Of course Ron carried the baby in his arms while Harry hugged them both and guided them through the dance floor. The only thing worrying the redhead was the moment when they announced the rest of the people the good news... Well, that, and the fact that Harry seemed to be annoyed because of something. His eyes were losing that amber colour and turning more into solid gold, thin rings of bright emerald green surrounding his pupils.

"Harry, are you ok?" Asked Ron in a hushed voice, not wanting to upset the now sleeping baby in his arms. "You look kind of distracted since the ritual ended..."

"I'm fine, love. It's just that now I'm a bit more... Er... Sensitive to you. My wolf wants to claim what is his and... That chocolate flavored balm you used is not helping..." Harry shot him a hungry look and he could only redden under the scrutinizing gaze of his husband.

"Eh... Uhm... We... Uhm... Maybe we can ask Andromeda to take Teddy home if you... I mean... We can pick him up tomorrow afternoon. After all, he will be living with us anyway..." Harry chuckled. Honestly, it was so endearing to see Ron so flustered and trying to fulfill his every wish, and what wouldn't he give to have his redheaded husband writhing under him again...

"It's ok, baby. Don't worry. Tomorrow's the full moon and I don't know if I'll be able to control myself." He closed what little distance he could and placed a gentle kiss on the redhead's cheek. "I don't want to hurt either of you... Even if you were ready for it..."

Harry kissed him again and led him to the main table where they were going to seat, carrying Teddy with him. Andromeda motioned for him to give Teddy to her, but he politely denied.

Once the music stopped and everyone was back in their seats, he stood up and hit carefully his glass with a spoon.

"My dearest friends, first of all, thank you for joining us in the most important night of our lives. You have no idea how much this means to us." He took Ron's hand in his and kissed it reverently. "All of you are aware of my friendship with Ron, and how much we, as long as Hermione, have relied in each other. We trusted each other with our lives when we were being hunted down by a mad man... We have saved each other's lives practically since the day we met." Hermione and Ron smiled at that. "And words will never be enough to express how grateful I am that I get to have this man for myself the rest of my life. But not everything that shines is gold; we've had our bad times and our worst... And we have acted in ways that we deeply regret. As I know that most of you know... Something bad happened between Ron and I that led us to be apart, and that led to something absolutely awful that I could have avoided hadn't I been so selfish and biased... But what truly matters here is that now we are together, facing those awful things and loving each other." Ron stood up too and put an arm around Harry's lower back, balancing Teddy in his other arm. The raven haired man kissed his lips tenderly. "Four weeks ago I had to demonstrate how much I love this beautiful person to help him survive one of the cruelest curses I've ever seen... And the product of that love is now here." Harry put a hand over Ron's still flat stomach and a second later a massive gasp filled the air. "My beloved husband and I are expecting our second child..." Everyone went still at that, confusion written on their faces, except for those who already knew. "Maybe you're wondering why a second child if we haven't had any kids yet... Well... We have decided to adopt little Teddy Lupin here, of course, with his grandmother's consent. He will keep his last name but from this day on, he'll be officially our son."

The crowd erupted in cheerful whistles, claps and congratulations, causing the baby boy to awaken and hugged Ron tightly. Harry took him in his arms and gave a gentle kiss to his head, showing how much he loved the boy. Teddy quieted and went back to sleep, keeping his face hidden in Harry's neck.

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It was almost eleven o'clock when the newlyweds decided to retire for the night. Andromeda retired earlier, taking her grandson with her. Harry and Ron both assured her that it wasn't necessary, but she argued that she would only have her daughter's kid for two more days before he officially became a Potter heir and they couldn't say no to that.

Ron was nervous as hell. Harry had reassured him that he would do nothing until after the full moon passed, but that didn't make him feel any better. He was anxious about being alone with Harry the night before the full moon. He once heard Tonks talk to his mother about Lupin's antics the nights prior and after the full moon and she always looked kind of pleased and scared at the same time. Ron could even remember quite vividly the red marks on her neck when her scarf was loose.

Ron jumped a bit when he felt strong arms wrap around his waist. Harry was supposed to be taking a shower, so, by the wetness he could feel against his back, the raven haired boy finished before time.

"I love the feeling of you in my arms..." Said Harry, planting a kiss on his husband's neck. "The thought of you and me together... Gods, Ron... You drive me mad..."

The raven haired boy pressed his nose against the redhead's neck and inhaled deeply. How he wanted to make Ron his all night, but unfortunately he promised the boy he would wait until after the full moon. His wolf had been quiet lately, knowing that Ronald sooner or later would seek him out, but after the wedding ritual ended, his hormones were in overdrive. He could hear his wolf howling pitifully because he was being denied the redhead's loving, but honestly, if they both wanted to shag in a regular basis with that sexy husband of theirs, they would have to wait.

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Harry kept his promise. He didn't dare risk pushing Ron away by letting his desires win, nor did he want to put their child in danger.

Two weeks passed since the last full moon but Harry's wolf was still restless, he wanted nothing more than to take his mate again and again and against every plane surface he could find.

Ron had been helping him out, bringing him food and soothing his sore muscles with relaxing massages. The poor boy didn't know where to hide his reddened face after the first massage he gave him. Harry had been moaning loudly because the redhead's amazing hands had caused him an erection, and Harry used the opportunity to return the favour by a mutual masturbation session.

Ron, after they ended, hid himself from Harry the rest of the day, despite the raven-haired boy reassuring him that it wouldn't happen again if he didn't want it.

Ron, on his part, timidly accepted that he had loved it, and that he would gladly do it again and again until their arms fell for overworking them, but that he wasn't ready to take the next step.

The redhead knew he was pushing Harry to his limit. He could tell by the way the colour of his husband's eyes changed from their usual emerald green to an intense gold that he could swear over the tomb of his great grandmother that glowed in the dark.

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After Harry and Ron's wedding, the things between Hermione and Ginny changed a bit. No one really knew if it was for the worst or the better, but the girls seemed to be walking on thin ice around each other.

Ginny had been acting extremely polite with the brunette, avoiding her sometimes, and handling her as if she was made of glass. Although the redhead was deteriorating, she made her best to not let it show. She wanted to get Hermione's love back on her own merits, and she was willing to risk anything to accomplish it, honestly, she didn't want her loved one to stick with her only because she needed her, out of pity. Yes. The words the brunette told her still lingered in her head, and every time she thought of them, it was as if a dagger was being pushed bit by bit into her heart.

On her part, Hermione knew what the redhead was trying to do. All that "giving her space" thing was driving her mad. The brunette knew that Ginny was losing control of herself and the guilt started to eat her alive.

Ron was off at home with his husband, and she didn't feel confident enough to tell any other person about her dilemma. She was still living at Grimmauld Place, and so were the Weasleys, so, when Fleur caught her in the windowsill of her bedroom spinning an empty bottle of fire whiskey, the blonde only made her go to bed, with the promise of a girl-to-girl chat come morning.

It was Sunday. A rainy Sunday, when the French woman entered Hermione's bedroom, carrying her daughter in one arm and a bottle of pepper-up potion in the other.

"So... What's on your mind, 'ermione? I know I'm not Ron, but I think I can 'elp you, too." The blonde's warm smile was enough to make her come undone.

Hermione cried until her cheeks were sore from all the salt in her tears, and little Victoire somehow found her way in between her mother and the brunette.

"Oh Fleur! I don't know what to do! It's just... Gosh... I know Ginny is deteriorating faster than we expected, and she's doing everything she can to hide it... I know she's doing it for me... I know she doesn't want to scare me away again and I swear for Merlin's beard that I try not to... But whenever she tries to touch me, I can't avoid flinching... As if she was going to punch me in the face again... I..."

"Do you love her?" asked the blonde abruptly, making the brunette open her eyes like plates.

"W-what? I mean... I... Guess I do... That day when we knew Ron was expecting a baby I hugged her... It just happened as if anything had happened before... And I can remember that I was so happy I didn't give a shit about anything... I guess... I guess I still love her... Maybe not the way I used to, but I can't stop doing it either."

"I know it's hard, but maybe you could just talk to her for real and clear things out... Just let her know what you feel and force her to talk. She's been over thinking her situation and that's never good. Let her know where she stands and ask her to give you time to get used to the situation... You are made for each other, Mione. Don't let this go to waste." The blonde admired the look of determination that suddenly appeared in the brunette's eyes. Silently taking her daughter, she stood up from the bed and left the bedroom.

Later that day, Hermione found Ginny in the backyard playing with her niece and little Teddy. Andromeda had come over while Harry and Ron went to check on the redhead's pregnancy with Madame Pomfrey.

"Hey Gin... Ah... Can I talk to you for a minute?" the redhead looked at her as if she was some kind of deity talking to a simple mortal, then nodded and, taking both kids by the hand, brought them to her sister-in-law.

Hermione was waiting for her in one of the benches. She could feel magic radiating from the brunette and knew that some privacy wards had been erected.

"Ah... So... Um... What do you want to talk about?" Ginny took a seat besides Hermione, leaving enough space between them so that her loved one didn't feel pressured.

Hermione noticed, and immediately closed the distance, placing a hand in one of the redhead's thighs. Ginny's eyes opened like plates at the action, and taking the redhead off guard, the brunette leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on the girl's lips.

Ginny felt slender fingers wrap around her neck and pull her down, adding a bit more pressure to the kiss. It was all she had been dreaming about and now that she had it... Somehow it didn't feel right. The redhead pulled away and stood from the bench, covering her face with her hands.

"Please, Hermione... Don't do this. I know that I don't deserve your love but I swear! I want to gain it back! I don't want you to be with me just because you pity me... I..."

"I don't care what you say." Said Hermione in a plain voice. The redheaded girl turned to look at her immediately. "I don't care if you want to gain my love back. I don't care if you feel like I feel pity for you. I just don't care. All I care about is that I want you. I've loved you since sixth year and I will love you forever. No matter what. So, either you can stop pushing me away and come and kiss me, and we start planning our wedding; or..."

Hermione's threat never made it past her lips. The redhead pulled her towards her chest and pressed her lips to the brunette's in a hungry, fiery kiss. Hermione was in heaven. She could feel Ginny's suppressed passion and longing; she could feel possessiveness and tenderness at the same time radiating from the redhead, and gods! She loved it.

When they finally parted to breath, Hermione was still dazed from all the emotions embedded in that kiss, and Ginny's goofy smile betrayed her happiness. Neither girl noticed a plump woman wiping away happy years, nor did the way a tall redheaded man hugged his blonde wife from behind, smiling at the sight of the new couple.

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"So, how are things going between you and Ginny?" Asked Ron to his best friend, they were sitting on a bench outside a Muggle ice cream shop. "I honestly can't take any more of her singing. Seriously, Mione, if you don't marry her by the end of the month, I swear I'll ask Harry to send her to China in a cardboard box!"

"Hey! You wouldn't dare!" exclaimed the brunette. "I know we're taking it slow, but Honestly Ronald, after all that happened between us..." The redhead nodded his head in silent agreement.

"I know. I still can't believe that I'm married to Harry and expecting our own baby." Said Ron, while caressing his belly. Hermione looked at him with a longing look and Ron knew what his friend really wanted. He knew that his sister was the dominant type, so maybe Hermione would be willing to carry their kids.

"Hey, Mione, have you ever thought how many kids do you want to have?" Asked the redhead all of a sudden, snapping the witch out of her musings.

"I don't know. To be honest, I never gave it much thought. Ginny and I haven't talked about it yet." said the brunette, with a faraway look on her face.

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Time went so fast, and when they noticed, Ginny and Hermione had already gotten married, and Ron was about to deliver his baby. Harry was driving himself mad with worry and excitement, because neither him nor Ron had any idea of how the baby would be born. Ron was already admitted into St. Mungo's. He had been taken there by Harry as soon as his water broke, Madame Pomfrey was in charge of his health and soon it would be time to meet his little baby. 

It was an easy process. Ron had to wait out the contractions, but as soon as Madame Pomfrey came back with a numbing potion and lifted his hospital gown, he knew that everything would be ok. The mediwitch delivered his baby boy via c-section, and as soon as the little baby was out of him she placed him in his arms, while Harry got to cut the umbilical chord. 

Once the baby was cleaned and measured, he was returned to his parents. Ron was crying tears of joy while holding his son. He never thought that he could be living this moment: having the love of his life, his whole family and closest friends near him, while holding the product of his and Harry's love in his arms.

"Look at him," said Harry. "He's so beautiful..."

Both parents were in awe of their child, and no one was shocked by the red tuff of hair adorning the baby's head. Neither was it a surprise when the child opened his eyes and his golden irises showed dustings of green and blue. Their baby was truly unique.

When it was time for everyone to meet the new Potter, every Weasley marched into the room, everyone wanting to hold the little boy. Molly and Arthur were the first to approach Ron and Harry, the second one passing the baby to his in-laws.

"Awww look at this little angel, Arthur. Isn't he beautiful?" cooed the matriarch, showing her grandson proudly to her husband.

"Yes, he is." said the man with tears in his eyes. He embraced Molly and the child, looking at the baby from behind Molly's shoulder. The baby opened his eyes again to stare at his grandparents and soon closed them again. Arthur tried to take one of the baby's hands in his, but the baby locked one of his fingers in his tiny hand.

It was in this moment that Arthur Weasley understood what he had almost lost when he rejected his son. 

"Does he have a name?" asked the proud grandfather.

Harry turned to look at Ron. To be honest, it hadn't been something they had discussed. To have ready a name hadn't even crossed Harry's mind, so he turned to look at Ron with uncertainty. The redhead, for his part, already knew how he wanted to call his little boy. He looked Harry in the eyes, smiled at him and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips.

"Yes. His name is James Arthur John Potter." Harry and Arthur both looked at him with tears in their eyes. "James, because of Harry's father; Arthur, because of you, and John, as the male version of Jean, Hermione's second name. She was there for me when..." Ron didn't want to end that sentence, so, instead he said, "when everything happened. She's like a sister to me..."

Hermione, who had been watching the scene unfold from her place in Ginny's arms, gasped in surprise, and went to the bed to give her best friend a kiss on the cheek, then, turned to take the baby from Molly's arms.

"For your own good I hope you're naming me godmother to this beautiful angel, Ronald Potter, or else..." said the brunette while holdong the tiny baby close to her chest. 

"Of course you will be named godmother, Hermione." said Harry. "It would be an honour for us if you became part of our son's life. After all you've done for us, I honestly don't know how else to thank you." Hermione's tears of joy started to run freely, and Ginny had to take her nephew from her arms so that she could wipe her eyes.

"I'm sorry! It's all these pregnancy hormones, I swear..." said the brunette. Everyone, including Ginny, fell into a shocked silence. "Oh... Fuck..."

"Hey! No cursing in front of my son!" exclaimed Ron, being the first to shake the shock away. "And... Congratulations, I guess...?"

Ginny approached her wife as soon as she put the baby back in Ron's waiting arms.

"Is it true, Mione? Are we gonna be mommas?" asked the redhead. It was clear from the emotion lacing her voice that she was about to cry.

"Yes," said Hermione, touching one of Ginny's cheeks with one of her hands. "We're gonna have a baby, Gin. Our own little piece of heaven..."

Ginny crushed her wife's lips with her, enveloping her in a loving hug. 

All the Weasleys present looked at both couples with happiness and pride; everyone was so happy about the new baby and Hermione's happy news that nothing could break them from their mood. 

Molly watched her youger kids finally be happy. She wouldn't let anyone or anything break this beautiful moment, nor the peace that finally reigned in her family. She carefully put one hand inside one of her pockets and tightened her fist around the letter that days prior had found it's way into her kitchen. It had been sent from Azkaban...

Ron and Harry looked once again at their beautiful baby boy, admiring his perfection.

"Thank you, Ron." said Harry, bestowing a kiss in his husband's temple.

"What for?" whispered the other man. The baby had fallen asleep.

"For allowing me into your life, for making me part of your family, for standing by me whenever I needed you the most, even when I was an ungrateful bastard..." he kissed the redhead's lips tenderly. "For showing me what true love is, for not giving up on me, and for giving me what I've always wanted... A family of my own..."

The redhead's eyes watered with joyful tears. "I love you so much, Harry." whispered the man.

"I love you so much too, Ronald Potter.. "

**Author's Note:**

> This fic took almost 3 years to be finished, but finally it's here. I didn't want to post it as chapters because for me it's easier to take my time and write something good. To the people following my Remus/Severus story, it WILL NOT be abandoned. I know I take a lot to upload each chapter, but I'm still writing the story, so thank you for your patience and for keeping up with it!!
> 
> If you liked this story feel free to leave kudos and comments. You can also bookmark it!


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